Life Sucks When You're Dead
by Shadelyn
Summary: This is the story of the death and rebirth of Aryn Carter. Vampire. Unfortunately for her, getting herself killed is the least of her problems.   part 1 of 3
1. Chapter 1

This has a few of mine and my husband's White Wolf characters in it. It's not really a White Wolf story though. I've changed some of the rules to make it more my own. Just a little. Let me know what you think, and if you think it's worthy of continuing with a part two. Otherwise I'll stick to writing Alyx/WarCry stuff. Thanks!

Also, my husband was kind enough to point out (after I've already now started part 2) that I have too many characters with names starting with 'E' and that I should change a couple of them. Fun. So I'm changing Ethan to Nathan and Eleanor to Madeline. Hope nobody gets confused.

- x x x -

Life Sucks When You're Dead

- Friday -

I stood up as soon as I heard the footsteps approaching from somewhere down the hallway outside the room I occupied. The woman who had called me to set up this job interview had left a note saying she was running late, and to wait for her. And although I hadn't been waiting long, the whole situation was disconcerting. Okay, so the lady had said the building was now vacant. She'd explained the offices were being moved to another location, and because of that, the interview had to be held after hours and in the old building, because the new one was still a mess. The area of town left something to be desired, but there _had_ been a security guard in the empty parking lot. But since entering the building, taking an elevator down to basement level B, and following the woman's directions to this nearly empty room, I had not seen another soul. It was creepy.

I should have felt relieved that someone was coming for me now, but a chill ran up my spine and my arms broke out in gooseflesh. I rolled my eyes at myself, feeling silly for being nervous. It didn't help, and I anxiously smoothed my black slacks and crisp white blouse, neither of which needed it.

The footsteps paused outside the door, just out of sight. I heard the soft, tinkling laugh of a woman, and then a masculine grunt. I'd only heard the footsteps of one person, but the muffled words of two voices drifted in through the open door.

I was about to call out, but then the woman was in the doorway and approaching me. She was a slight woman with wild blonde hair, blackened raccoon eyes, and a sneering mouth. She was appraising me as the male approached behind her, silently, as his feet were bare. The man towered over the smaller woman, but was painfully thin, his skin stretching thinly over his bones. His expression was grim and he spared me only a fleeting glance, as though I were inconsequential.

They were an odd looking, mismatched pair. The man wore dark gray pants with a nice dress shirt, and his bare feet aside, would not have looked out of place in an office. On the other hand, the woman was wearing skin tight jeans that would have made anyone look trashy. Her blue tank top could have looked nice if it hadn't been about three sizes too small.

I gave the woman a puzzled, tentative smile and reached my hand out in greeting. I wasn't convinced this was the woman I'd set the interview up with.

"Hello, I'm Eryn Carter. I hope I'm in the right place?" I asked, though my mouth and throat had gone dry.

The woman grinned back at me, but ignored my hand, which I awkwardly let drop back to my side. There was nothing friendly about the look she gave me. In fact, she sort of inspired the image of a dog foaming at the mouth and gnashing its teeth. My instincts were telling me to get the hell out of there, but the fear of making a fool of myself kept me frozen in place.

"This was too easy Jonas," the woman said to her companion, "Hardly any fun at all. Do I at least get to take a bite?"

The skeletal man shrugged slightly, "A small sample."

The woman leaned towards me and inhaled deeply. She closed her eyes and sighed as if in ecstasy. I backed away until I stumbled into the worn leather couch, the only object left in the room, and sat down unwillingly. This was all wrong, seriously wrong. My desire to run was overwhelming, but still I remained frozen, staring back into the woman's face, not quite meeting her eyes. I opened my mouth to try and speak, though I had no idea what to say. I didn't want to overreact, when I was probably only misunderstanding.

"Shut up!" The woman struck before I could say a word, and the side of my face lit up in pain.

My eyes bulged in shock. The woman had hit me! Nobody had ever hit me before. I could feel my face burning hot with both embarrassment and rage. It was nearly enough to drown out the pain. With a surge of adrenaline, all fear was forgotten for the moment. I stood up and glared at the woman, my fists clenched so tightly that I popped the knuckles of both thumbs.

The man snapped his fingers and reflexively, I turned to look at him, meeting his eyes.

"Sit down." It was a simple command, and I obeyed without thought. I blinked at him, and turned back to the woman. I didn't want to sit down. I wasn't sure why I had. What I wanted to do was hit the woman and see how she liked it. And then get the hell out of there.

"Stupid girl," the woman purred, and reached out to stroke my hair as if consoling me. I tried to flinch away, but the woman curled her fingers into my hair and clenched a handful of it in her fist. She leaned over me and suddenly licked my face, from my jaw to my temple.

That woke me up. Cringing, I screamed and kicked at the woman, clawing at her arm, and trying to twist my head out of her grasp. The woman only laughed, that same soft, tinkling sound like glass.

When all my flailing failed, I went limp, remembering something I'd seen on TV about self defense. Some of my hair was yanked out painfully by the roots as I fell to the floor, but the woman's grip didn't loosen. Instead, she took advantage of my new position and straddled my waist, her knees squeezing into my ribcage and bruising my sides.

Maybe that only works if someone has their arms around you? I wondered, slightly hysterical. I didn't know what to do. I was still screaming, but there wasn't anyone around to hear me. There was the security guard, but he was out in the parking lot. The security guard!

"Someone knows I'm here! The security guard saw me, and my car is out there. You can't _do_ this." I panted.

The woman rapped her knuckled on my forehead. "That was Jonas, you idiot. And I doubt you have any idea what we're going to do to you."

"Constance... are you going to play with it all night?"

The woman hissed in annoyance, but released her grip on my hair and slapped me across the face again. Before I could recover from the shock of the blow, Constance locked her hand around my chin and held my face in place.

"Jonas is impatient to get you back to your boyfriend. I hope you'll make it, I really do. It's an ingenious joke, don't you think? I wish I could see the look on his face when he sees you again. I wonder if he'll rip your throat out. Maybe he'll cry."

I didn't understand the woman, but her words sounded promising. Maybe they weren't going to kill me. I wanted nothing more than to see Ben again.

Constance brought her face close to mine and pulled her lips back from her teeth. I shrieked and bucked, trying to throw the woman off of me. I pounded my heels into the floor and beat at the woman with my fists, but she would not be budged and she didn't so much as flinch at the blows.

The woman had fangs. And while I had seen any number of teenagers with silly fang-like caps on their canines, these looked _sharp_. And they were inches away from my throat. She was going to bite me. The crazy bitch was going to rip my throat open with a freaking pair of dental implants.

A wave of nausea hit me and my head swam. Forcing myself to give up the grip I had on her, I pulled my fist back and slammed it into her face. There was a crunch and a pop as I made contact with her square on the nose, the ring on my right hand causing more damage than I could have done on my own.

I gasped, my thumb without a doubt broken, and possibly my hand as well. I'd never thrown a punch before and realized too late that I'd done it wrong.

Constance jerked away, releasing her hold on me entirely, hands flying to her face. As I pulled myself out from under her and scurried away, I saw Jonas shaking his head, expression bored. He didn't look my way as I bolted out the door.

I retraced my steps back to the elevators and pounded on the button. Nothing happened. I continued to hit the button repeatedly, urging the doors to open as I listened for the footsteps I knew would follow.

I wished fervently that I'd agreed to carry the pepper spray my boyfriend had once tried to purchase for me. I'd laughed, thinking Ben was being silly for worrying about my safety. But even if I'd let him buy it for me, my purse was still in the office. Along with my car keys. Well, shit. All I could do once I got out of there was scream bloody murder until someone helped me, if only to shut me up.

I watched the hallway through bleary eyes, but it was still clear. The damned elevator doors remained shut. With a cry of frustration, I slammed my palm into the button one last time before running further down the hall. There had to be emergency stairs somewhere. If the elevator doors opened before I found them, I could always run back.

I was running flat out when I crossed an intersection in the hallway. There was movement from the hallway to my right. I skidded to a stop and screamed for help. Too late, I realized it was Constance. Jonas was at her heels, expression still uninterested. Constance was laughing, despite the blood that stained her face. Her nose was definitely broken.

"Little girl, little girl, run away home. Your lover is waiting, ready to... HEY!" Constance shrieked as I took off down the hall again. "It's impolite to walk away from someone when they're trying to talk to you."

I turned the next corner I came to, only to find myself slammed face first into the wall as my arm was yanked back, throwing me off balance. I crumpled to the floor before I knew what had happened and looked up to see Constance standing over me, smiling down almost pleasantly.

"I'm going to have to get rough with you, aren't I?" She chided. Shaking her head, smile still in place, she twisted my arm, bringing forth another howl from my lips. Not quite satisfied with that, she pursed her lips and kicked out, the sharp toe of her boot making contact with my ribs.

My vision turned gray as I gasped for breath. My fingers went numb and I couldn't make my arm move. I was pretty sure I'd just received a few broken ribs. Constance folded her arms across her chest and didn't make another move. She cocked her head to the side and lifted her shoulders, waiting for me to make the next move.

I kept telling myself over and over again that it wasn't that bad. I needed to get up and run. I had to try. I pushed with my legs and slid a couple feet away from Constance. She made no move to stop me, but just stood there watching me. She was having fun, her face clearly amused. Her ruined nose was very small consolation.

I rolled over painfully, grunting as I went, but I didn't cry out again as I struggled to my feet. I couldn't feel much of my right arm, but my ribs were another story and every time I took a breath, I was assaulted by a sharp pain in my right side.

I took off down the hall again, though I couldn't make myself move very fast. I darted constant looks over my shoulder to watch for Constance following me, but she turned away and walked off in the opposite direction. I hoped she would find her friend and leave.

When she was out of sight, I began checking the doors I passed. For an abandoned building, you'd think they wouldn't have been locked, but I must have darted back and forth across the hallway a dozen times before I finally came to one that opened. I didn't hesitate to enter the room. As soon as the door closed behind me, I was swallowed by darkness. Not the slightest crack of light from the hallway could be seen around the door. I fumbled with the doorknob looking for a lock, but found nothing except a keyhole. I would have loved to have been able to take a quick look around the room, but opening the door again was too big a risk. If Constance and Jonas came looking for me again, I prayed they'd walk right past and never check this room. I couldn't tip them off.

I felt my way along the wall until I found a corner and curled up as best I could on the floor. My head was throbbing, my side ached between stabbing pains, and my arm was beginning to get some feeling back in it. I'd rather it stayed numb.

I rested my head on my good arm and cried silently. I couldn't understand why I'd been lured here. What could Ben have to do with this? Did he know these crazy people? And why go after me? I had no enemies. Sure, it's easy to say that, but I seriously didn't. I had never done anything remarkable enough to make someone hate me. I was three years out of high school, going to college part time, and trying to make my way through life, funded by a series of bad paying jobs. Ben was the most significant accomplishment so far in my life. Which was pretty sad. I was fully aware of how pitiful I was for measuring my self worth by my boyfriend.

Ben... I felt my heart squeeze. We'd met a little over two years ago at school. He wasn't a student, but he'd been there to help a friend move out of his dorm room. He'd been wandering around campus like a confused, lost puppy. He'd been so cute, I hadn't been able to resist approaching him and asking if he needed help. I'd been seeing someone else at the time, but the poor guy never had a chance. Ben and I had been together ever since. We never did find his friend's dorm room that day.

I'm not sure how much time passed. Probably not long. For a while I strained to listen for the sound of Contstance's footsteps, but the pounding in my head was so loud, I wasn't sure I'd be able to hear her anyway.

It wasn't until I heard a light scratching on the door and I froze that I realized my teeth had been chattering. I held my breath.

The scratching continued, followed by the sound of Constance giggling. I'd never complain about nails on a chalkboard again. It was a far preferable sound. The nausea returned and I had to swallow quickly to keep the bile down my throat.

The door opened slowly and I knew I'd been found. Constance wasn't looking for me. She knew damned well where I was, and she was playing with me.

"Eryn..." she called in a sing-song voice. "Come out and play with me some more. I've barely hurt you at all, you naughty girl. The hide and seek is supposed to come after I bat you around. I've barely swatted."

She stepped into the room and immediately turned to face me. She shook her head at me, smiling. She had her lower lip caught between her teeth and her fangs were clearly visible. With a wink, she flipped on the light switch. I blinked, my eyes burning.

Jonas appeared behind Constance, pushing the door open the rest of way, and forcing her the rest of the way into the room. She advanced on me slowly. She wasn't wary of me, she just wanted to draw out her game.

Jonas cleared his throat. "Enough. I tire of this, so be done with it or I shall do it for you. I intend to claim her and be gone within the hour."

Yes, I thought. Let him do it, whatever it is. I wanted no more of Constance. If I was going to die, I believed he would be quick about it. Constance would take her time.

She glared at me, like I'd been the one to take her fun away. In an instant, she covered the short distance between us and was on her knees in front of me. My corner had become a trap. I didn't even struggle this time when she placed her hands on either side of my face.

"Goodnight sweetheart," she whispered, and with a look of pure delight on her face she dashed my head into the wall. I barely whimpered. My vision blurred and the room began to spin. I squeezed my eyes shut and my stomach heaved. One of them made a noise of disgust, but the contents of my stomach remained where they were.

The scent of Constance's perfume filled my senses as her arms wrapped around me and she brought her mouth to my neck. My head lolled back and my muscles refused to obey when I tried to shield my throat. She met no resistance as she bit me, not from me, and not from my skin as her teeth pierced my flesh. It stung, but it wasn't as bad as the pain I imagined I would feel. It wasn't as bad as the ache of my broken ribs, or the throb of my arm now that it was no longer numb.

I certainly didn't feel any pleasure like in so many vampire movies or the few novels I'd read. But then, vampires weren't real. I figured I should be grateful her dentist had given her such sharp teeth, or it probably would have been much, much worse.

She worked her teeth at my neck, her mouth closed around the wound she'd given me as she drank my blood. At least, I assumed she was drinking it. I could hear her swallowing, and though I could feel a warm trickle down my back, I knew I must be losing quite a bit more blood than that.

My body was growing light, like I was floating. It was pretty nice, really. The pain of my injuries was fading along with everything else. It was getting more and more difficult to think at all. If I was dying, then this wasn't really so bad. Not since the pain starting fading at least. It was a relief.

Constance removed her mouth from my neck and let me drop back to the floor. The abandonment woke me up a little, but I was still floating. My eyes fluttered open to see where she'd gone, but Jonas was in her place. I closed my eyes again. He didn't scare me. He hadn't hurt me.

I felt myself being picked up again, and I wondered if Jonas was going to carry me away. I was pretty content to remain where I was so long as the pain didn't return. But it did.

There was another sting, this time on the other side of my neck. Again, it wasn't so very bad. I think I whimpered once more before I lost consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

- Saturday -

I awoke to the taste of blood in my mouth. It was caked on my teeth, my tongue, and I could feel more on my lips and chin. Turning my head to the side, I spat out what I could, which wasn't nearly enough to get rid of the taste.

My head still pounded, but it looked like Constance and Jonas had left me. It was still pitch dark in the room. At least I assumed it was the same room. Honestly, I didn't care where I was so long as those two were really gone.

I was freezing, and once I woke up enough to notice, I found I was soaking wet as well. My skin was burning, but I couldn't stop shivering. At least my arm and ribs weren't hurting so bad anymore. I was able to get to my feet without too much pain, though my head did spin and it took a moment to find my balance. I stood hunched over, eyes squeezed shut despite the darkness, and concentrated on breathing. Once the wave of sickness passed, I felt my way towards the door.

I was met with more darkness in the hallway and cursed. I cringed at the sound of my voice, so loud in the otherwise silent building. I couldn't assume I was alone. They might still be here, waiting to torture me some more. At least in the darkness, they should have more trouble finding me. I had to find my way out.

Thinking was difficult. My head felt like it had not only been stuffed full of prickly cotton, but had then been suspended like some unidentifiable object in the middle of a mold of gelatin. The thought make me feel sick again.

I concentrated on feeling my way down the hallway. I was pretty sure I could remember the path I had taken from that first office. I needed my car keys. And then I needed to find a way out.

It was slow going. Every time I tried to hurry forward, I would feel myself start to pitch forward, everything spinning around me, regardless of whether I could actually see or not.

Something scraped and cracked under my foot and I gasped, the sound filling the space around me. I slid my feet forward carefully, trying not to make more noise, but the floor was littered with... something. I bent down to investigate and my fingers were met with what felt like plastic. Lots of broken shards of thin plastic.

It wasn't important enough to keep my attention, so I stood and started forward again. I'd made it a few more doors down the hallway before it dawned on me what must have been broken. An emergency light. Damn. And sure enough, a couple more doors down, I found more broken plastic littering the floor.

I shook my head, which was a bad idea because it made the dizziness worse and I had to rest my head against the wall before I could trust myself to move forward again without falling. Or vomiting.

My stomach lurched. Too late, just the thought of getting sick was enough to cross me over the line. I pressed my hands against the wall to steady myself and retched, my stomach heaving. I stifled a sob and stepped over, hopefully, the contents of my stomach and continued down the hall.

I felt a little better, my head a little clearer, but I was desperately thirsty. I briefly considered checking doors as I went along to see if I might find a bathroom where I could get a drink from the sink, but it was too much effort. Get my keys, get out, get home. That was all that mattered.

When I came to what I hoped was the intersection of two hallways, I felt frighteningly exposed as I stumbled across the open emptiness before finding the wall again. I was definitely investing in a nightlight once I got home. I didn't think I'd ever feel comfortable in the dark again.

I gave a silent prayer when I turned the last corner to what I thought must be the way to that first office I'd waited in. I rushed forward down the hall, fighting through the lightheadedness, desperate to find that room. When the wall vanished from beneath my hands, I pitched forward and landed on my knees.

Panting, I felt around me. I was in a doorway. Good. I crawled forward, the empty layout of the office in mind as I made my way across the floor. When I bumped into the cool leather of the sofa, I laughed, tears filling my eyes. There was my purse, on the cushion where I'd left it.

I pulled myself up onto the couch and rested my head, clutching my bag to my chest. I'd just rest a moment.

- x x x -

_The sun blazed overhead, lighting the world on fire. Or at least it felt like it. I burned._

_"Ben, did you bring the sunscreen?" I asked, turning to find Ben standing behind me, grinning mischievously back at me. I arched an eyebrow in question._

_"I can cool you off, babe! Just bask in my radiant aura of super cool coolness." He struck a pose, hands on hips, head held high, and chest puffed out._

_"Dork," I rolled my eyes and turned my back on him to face the water. I smiled._

_I hadn't been here for years, and had always meant to come with Ben, but had just never made it. I could see small bluegills beneath the surface of the water, searching for food at the water's edge, where it lapped gently against the beach. Were there bluegills the last time I'd been here? I couldn't remember. It didn't matter. The surface of the water sparkled, pristine and welcoming. These were the backwaters of the Mississippi River. And I'd never seen them so beautiful before. The water was usually so muddy. Something about that seemed odd, but it didn't matter. I closed my eyes and scrunched my toes in the sand. With the heat, it should have burned, but it felt like heaven, cool and soft. But when I opened my eyes again and looked down, I was standing on a bed of soft grass, not sand. I didn't give it another thought. It didn't matter._

_"Time to cool off!" Ben shouted, grabbing me around the waist, hoisting me up._

_I flailed, laughing, and tried to grab onto his shoulders, but before I could latch onto him. I was airborne. Hitting the water brought a total shock to my system as I left the overheated air and was enveloped by icy cold blackness. I gasped, water filling my lungs and choking me. I kicked out and waved my arms through the water, but it thickened around me and made my struggles so much more effort than I had the energy to make. I let myself fall, and when I landed on something hard and cool, I surrendered myself to the dark and let myself drift again._


	3. Chapter 3

- Sunday -

_Chirp._

I groaned and rolled over, unhappy to have my sleep disturbed.

_Chirp._

I opened my eyes. My cheek was pressed against rough industrial carpet. I rolled onto my back and looked around for the offending noise that had woken me up.

_Chirp._

"Ow," I rubbed at my hand, which was itching in a pretty painful way. The room was dark, so I couldn't see, but I could feel dry, cracked skin around my right index finger. I pulled off the thick silver band I wore there and pocketed it so I could scratch at the offensive skin more easily. I felt large flakes of dried skin come away as I scratched and I put my hand to my mouth to moisten the skin. I tasted blood. Lovely. I stopped scratching.

_Chirp._

Okay, that was getting annoying.

I pushed myself to my feet, wondering vaguely what I was doing on the floor. My thoughts were interrupted as soon as I tried taking a step, whereupon I immediately fell back to the floor, tripping over something. I giggled at my own clumsiness and reached my hands out to find what I'd fallen over. Ah... my purse. Hadn't I been looking for that? Where the heck was I?

_Chirp._

"Hey Chewie. Get your huge ass off the floor. You're going to be late for the party."

"Huh?" I swung my head around and saw a faint green light coming from beyond a doorway.

I got up again, clutching my purse and made my way to the door.

"Gabe?" I called. He was the only one who called me Chewie, a stupid nickname he'd given me that was too lame for anyone else to pick up. It started when someone had once referred to me as Ben's chew toy, and quickly evolved from there.

_Chirp._

I looked up at the tiny green light coming from the ceiling outside the office door. It was faint, but it looked like it was coming from a smoke detector. Dead battery...

_Chirp._

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." I turned down the hall, looking for Gabe.

I found him waiting for me at the end of the hall. He had a pineapple in his hands.

"Gabe?" I asked. "What's going on?"

He shrugged.

"I'm hallucinating." I said.

"Probably," he said. "You look like shit."

"Thanks," I mumbled, walking away. The real Gabe would probably have been ruder.

I didn't give too much thought to where I was going. I just wandered away down one hallway, and then another, trying doors as I went. I did find several that were unlocked, but they only opened to reveal more empty offices.

"Hey, Gabe?" I called, realizing something as I rounded another corner. "I can see."

There was no answer, not surprising since Gabe wasn't actually there. I couldn't see much, but it was enough to make out the doors and I wasn't having to feel my way along.

I had to stop and try to remember what I was looking for. It might have helped if I could remember where I was. It hurt my head to try and focus on these questions, so I didn't. Instead, I continued my search. I was sure I'd know what I was looking for when I found it.

The next door I opened left me standing blind and I nearly let the door close again to protect my eyes. I blinked and squinted into the bright light. A bathroom. Was I looking for a bathroom?

I gave myself a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light before entering. It made my head hurt worse, but when I saw the bank of sinks lining the wall, I remembered how thirsty I was. I dropped my purse and didn't hesitate a moment longer. I dove for the nearest faucet and shoved my hands under the sensor and waited for relief. The icy cold water sent a chill up my spine as it washed over my hands. I drank greedily between spitting out mouthfuls of pink tinted water.

When I had my fill, I poked around my mouth with my tongue, trying to locate any injuries to explain all the blood I'd spit out. Everything felt normal. My hand was another story. My index finger was a cracked, bloody mess. But it wasn't swollen, and I could wiggle it, so it wasn't broken. I wiggled my thumb too, thinking there should be something wrong with it, but it was fine too. My head throbbed, I had the chills, and my stomach didn't feel great, but otherwise I seemed fine. I couldn't remember why I thought I shouldn't be.

I raised my head to take a look in the mirror, and really wished I hadn't. It was like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over my head; my entire body chilled in an instant at what I saw. I'd expected that maybe my hair would be a mess from sleeping on the floor. What I saw was so much worse, that after the initial shock I started to laugh because it couldn't have been me that stared back from the mirror. But then a wave of dizziness hit me and I had to grab onto the sink and close my eyes until it passed. When I opened them again, my reflection still showed a scene from a horror movie.

My blonde curls were plastered against my head with dried blood. There was more blood on my mouth, entirely covering my chin, and splattered generously around the collar of my shirt. I found more hidden beneath the collar, but could find no injuries to account for it.

I promptly retched into the sink, but other than the water I'd just consumed, the contents of my stomach had already been lost somewhere else in the building. But that memory was vague and it caused me more pain to think about it. My stomach heaved again, and then settled itself.

Fairly certain I had control over my nausea, I looked back into the mirror. My eyes were bright and glassy. They didn't look real. Sweat beaded heavily on my forehead and ran down my face, leaving trails in the blood on my jaw. Gabe was right. I looked like shit.

I cleaned myself up the best I could, even washing my hair in the sink. I felt better once I was done, but even so, the desire to find a corner somewhere, curl up into a ball and sleep was really tempting. It was nice and dark out in the hallway. Quiet too, now that I was away from that awful chirping. And then, once I got some sleep, maybe I'd remember what I was doing here. Maybe Gabe would come back and tell me. Maybe he'd find Ben for me.

Ben. Was that who I was looking for? My heart squeezed. I wanted Ben. I should find him, and then I could get some sleep. I always slept better with Ben anyway.

That settled, I went back to the hallway to continue my search. They didn't seem to end, so maybe I was in a maze. But that didn't make sense. I tried not to worry about it. Just try the doors. I'd find something. I came to a dead end and giggled when I had to backtrack. It really was like a maze, and I had to wonder if I was going down the same hallways over and over again.

I wandered, my eyesight slowly improving as it adjusted to the lack of light. I began to see more and more detail in my surroundings. When I found myself staring at a map of evacuation routes, I felt like I'd made a small victory. This was what I was looking for! Wasn't it?

I was two doorways away from the elevator, and just one more away from the stairwell. I made my way to the elevator first, but when I pressed the button and nothing happened, I felt no surprise. The stairs it was.

The door to the stairwell was locked. I stared at it in shock, though at that point I don't know why I was surprised. What did surprise me was how angry it made me. It was like a personal slight, designed to cause me ill will. And it really pissed me off. Who locks an emergency exit like that?

I slammed myself into the door over and over again, the feel of the wood vibrating from the blows encouraging me to keep trying. Each time I threw myself at the door, I could hear small cracks form in the door jamb. I almost had it, or at least it seemed to be getting close. I'd never broken a door down before. I backed away from the door to give it running start, but instead of my back meeting the solid door behind me, I stumbled backwards as the door swung open behind me.

The stairwell.

"Huh."

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and stood back up, sparing one embarrassed glance at the door I'd been beating down. The wrong door.

Happy at least that there was no one around to witness my idiocy, I looked up at the stairs. There was a faint light in here, so I wouldn't have to try climbing them in the dark. It was much brighter than in the hallway, but not blinding like in the bathroom. It was a comfortable soft glow that didn't make my head hurt worse than it already did.

Up I went, since that was my only option.

I passed a landing with a door marked Basement Level A and continued upwards vowing to burn the damned building down if the door I needed on the first floor was locked. But these doors didn't look like they _had_ locks, so I was hopeful.

As it turned out, the door did not only have a lock, but it was locked. Fortunately, it seemed to be one of those doors that only locked from the outside, so it swung open easily for me. I found myself standing in the parking garage.

I smiled and gave a silent prayer of thanks.

The air was cool and helped clear my head a little. I remembered where I was. It was something. But the parking lot was empty. Completely. I stared blankly at the spot where I knew I'd left my car, unable to muster the energy required to feel any emotion about its absence save for some small regret, because my cell phone had been in the car. I walked out of the garage and started down the sidewalk outside. It was going to be a long walk home.


	4. Chapter 4

I didn't think about much of anything as I walked. My mind was pretty numb, and I felt really weird. It wasn't in a good way, but more in the 'I think I might die soon' kind of way. Not that I really thought I was going to die, but I felt kind of like I might have already and my brain just hadn't caught up with my body yet.

There was next to no traffic on the road. Though in this part of town, that was probably preferable. Still, when a horn honked behind me, I stopped and waited for the car to pull up and stop alongside me.

"Hey chica! You need a ride? You want some company?"

I peered in through the open window of a beat up white Sentra. The driver looked like a wanna-be gangster, but you never know. He was alone in the car, so maybe he was an unpopular one. Or he could just be a nice kid. I was in no shape to judge his character, and even in my severely clouded state of mind, I hesitated about giving him any sort of reply.

Tentatively, I gave him the street names of the intersection near my apartment complex and asked if he knew how to get there.

"Sure baby, get in."

I knew I shouldn't get in. But I didn't think I was going to make it the ten miles home on foot either. So I nodded and climbed into the car.

He looked me over now that he could see me better. I wasn't bad looking. Usually.

"You sick baby?"

"No," I offered a forced smile, which probably looked as forced as it felt. "I've just been walking too long. Uh, my car broke down."

He nodded, but I don't know if he heard what I said. Taking off down the street, mostly in the direction of home, he kept his eyes on me more than the road.

"You look cold baby, why don't you slide over here. I take good care of you, yeah? We can have some fun. Maybe I take you to my place and we can have some fun. I'm Hector. What's your name, chica?"

Each time he mentioned fun, something ticked at the edge of my mind. Something just out of reach. It made my skin crawl, and I clutched my purse to my chest. He was crazy if he thought I was cold. I was burning up.

"Can you just take me home, please? I need to get home."

"What's the hurry, chica? You like my place, I treat you real good."

I stared straight ahead, but the lights whipping by made me dizzy. I had to look away, so I stared down at my lap instead. "I can't, I'm sorry. My boyfriend is waiting for me."

"Aw, baby, no! Don't tell me that. He leave you at the side of the road, yeah? I treat you better than that." Hector reached over and placed his hand on my thigh.

I bolted upright and tensed, staring at his hand. It inched upwards.

"Get your fucking hand off of me." I growled.

He laughed.

"That's not friendly, chica, you..." He looked over at me and made eye contact. His face paled visibly and he yanked his hand away. The car swerved as he tried to get as far away from me as possible.

I gripped the dashboard and gritted my teeth, trying not to vomit.

"Demonio!" He screamed at me.

The car came to a screeching stop, then began to roll slowly as he crossed himself with one hand and dug in his jeans pocket with the other. I undid my seat belt, ready to get the hell out of there. Walking home didn't sound so bad anymore.

There was a click and then Hector had a knife in his hand, eyes wild. "Déjame en paz espíritu maligno."

Well. I had no idea what that meant, but it didn't sound friendly. It probably had to do with the five inches of blade he was waving in my face. I growled again, eyes glued to the knife. I knew I should get out of the car and run, but now I was pissed off.

"¡Fuera! Lo voy a matar!" He swept the knife towards my face, very narrowly missing me.

I licked my lips and tasted blood. My breathing was ragged, and my body trembled as outrage at being threatened turned into something darker that I didn't really recognize. I wanted to get out of the car, but instead I lunged forward and grabbed Hector's wrist. There was a loud snap and he screamed. And then all went quiet and very still.

- x x x -

I stepped out of the car, feeling much better than I had before, but my head was no clearer than it had been. I glanced into the car before shutting the door. Hector was slumped forward over the steering wheel, passed out.

Hector? Was that his name?

The car was parked a little funny at the side of the street. The engine was still running, and one of the front tires was up on the curb. There was no sign of any collision. I stood there, staring at the car, tears and sweat trickling down my face. I didn't know why I was crying.

I looked around, taking note of where I was. I was close to home. Maybe three miles. I took off down the street at a dead run.

- x x x -

When my apartment came into view, it was such a relief, that my entire body felt lighter. I smiled like an idiot as all my stress and anxiety melted away. Home meant safety. It meant Ben, a shower, bed, and not having to worry about... I still couldn't remember what I was worried about. But it didn't matter, because I was home!

I sprinted across the street, practically flew across the parking lot, and had my keys out of my purse before I reached my door. The lights were off in the apartment. But Ben was probably asleep. It had to be pretty late.

I dropped my purse and keys to the floor as soon as I stepped inside and headed straight for the bedroom.

"Ben?" I called out, flipping the light switch on. The bed was empty.

It figured. He was probably out with his friends. I needed a shower anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

- Monday -

"Eryn. Hey, wake up. Eryn!"

Someone was shaking me and it was really annoying. I pulled my blanket up over my head and rolled over.

"Dammit, Eryn, wake up!"

"What?" I sat up, rubbing my eyes. Ben stood there staring at me, looking pissed off. His eyes were bloodshot, making the blue in them pop. And his blonde hair looked dull, like it hadn't been washed for a couple days.

"Where the hell have you been? I called the police yesterday. I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Why? What happened?" I swallowed a few times, trying to moisten my mouth. I felt bone dry.

"You've been _gone_ for three days!" He shouted at me and I put my hands over my ears and glared at him.

"Jesus Christ Ben, stop yelling at me. I had a job interview last night and I got home late. I think I got sick and passed out after my interview." I slipped out of bed and pushed Ben out of my way. He followed me out of the bedroom and into the bathroom, where I filled a cup with water.

"You weren't home last night. You haven't been home for days, and your car got towed Saturday. I've spent the entire weekend looking for you. You need to call your parents too, your mom is freaked."

"Dude..." I took a drink and made a face at the taste. "Bleh."

I poured the rest of the water down the sink and grabbed Ben's arm, pulling him out of the bathroom with me. He followed along, face a little on the red side, still pissed off at me. I just shrugged it off. Ben didn't have much of a temper, so I figured he'd chill out if I let him vent.

The water had hit my stomach like an iron ball and I curled up on the couch, pulling a throw onto my lap.

Ben threw his arms up. Drama Queen. I smiled. Really, who did that?

"Where the hell have you _been_?"

I made a face, but then when I really looked at Ben and saw the look on his face, my smile faded. I shrugged, not sure where to start. He was talking a little crazy. Maybe I hadn't been the only one to get sick.

"Benji," I laid my head down on the arm of the couch. "It's Saturday morning, right? I don't know what time I got in this morning."

"No babe, today is Monday. It'll be Tuesday in a few hours. I haven't seen or heard from you since Friday afternoon."

A chill ran up my spine and I must have whimpered or something because Ben stopped glaring at me and sat down on the coffee table so he was right in front of me. He put his hands on my knees and stared at the top of my head. I stared at my hands in my lap, the throw clenched in my fists. There were things I really didn't want to think about. Things I really didn't want to remember, but they were shoving their way into my head anyway. I shivered.

"Talk to me," Ben pleaded.

"I don't know what happened," I whispered.

"You've got to talk me, Eryn, please. You're scaring me." He leaned in close to me, willing me to give him something. I could smell his breath. He'd been drinking recently. I felt certain he had been drinking because he'd been worried about me.

I shook my head. Those memories returning to me didn't make any sense. I wasn't hurt. It had to have been a dream.

"Were you... with another guy?" Ben asked.

My head snapped up and I clipped his chin with the top of my head.

"No!" I yelled at him, shocked that he'd ask me such a thing. "What kind of an asshole question is that?"

"What am I supposed to think? You vanish for three days and you won't tell me where you were. If you don't want me to think stupid crap like that, you're going to have to give me something."

I leaned my head back and shut my eyes.

"I don't know Ben. I told you, I had an interview Friday night. I got sick and passed out. I think I was really messed up and hallucinating. When I woke up and got out of there, my car was gone. I had to walk home. You weren't here when I got back. I didn't feel good, so I went to bed." I sighed, not knowing what else to tell him. I knew there was more, but I didn't want to think about it. It wasn't real.

I lifted my head and leaned forward, pressing the side of my face against his. When he pulled back to look at me, I curled my fingers around his instead, seeking some comfort in his touch.

I didn't like the way he was looking at me, like he didn't know me. And he didn't like what he saw. His whole body was tense and his hands were pushing down on my knees like he'd forgotten it was me he had his hands on.

"You're not telling me everything." He said quietly. "What exactly did you... hallucinate?"

I squirmed, feeling a little silly about being so scared of a nightmare.

"It was messed up." I shrugged and bit my lip, hoping he wouldn't push me to explain.

"Tell me," he said with a cold voice that scared me as much the memories in my head.

"Why? It was just a dream. I don't even know what happened and what didn't happen. I can't even remember if the lady who called me in about the job ever showed up. I just remember these two freaks showing up. One of them ignored me, and the other one was a real bitch. But it's not like it really happened. I mean, if it had been real, I'd probably be in the hospital right now."

"What did they do to you?" He asked in that same cold voice.

"She beat the shit out of me. She broke my arm, my hand, my ribs. She bashed my head into the wall, and she bit me." I placed my hand to my throat. "And then they both left and I was wandering around in the dark. Gabe was there, telling me I was fat and that I looked bad. Though I think I passed out a couple times before that. When I got out of there, there was nobody around and the car was gone. There was hardly any traffic on the road. I didn't have my phone because it was in the car, and I had to walk. I think someone drove me part of the way."

I refused to think about that car ride. The memory of that was fuzzier than anything else, and I didn't want it to become any clearer.

"You were bit?" Ben jerked his hands away and stood up, staring down at me. When I looked up at him, eyes wide in confusion, he paled, looking sick.

"Well not really. I'm fine. I'm not even sick anymore." I shrugged. "Probably didn't get the job though."

A look of anguish passed over Ben's face. He sat back down across from me again. I stared back at him, not really understanding why he was so upset. I felt bad that he'd worried about me, but it was all over and done with. He should get over it, really.

He put his hand to my cheek and I was surprised at how warm it was. It felt good.

"You're ice cold," Ben growled.

"Yeah, well... it's better than sweating all over myself." I was tired of Ben's attitude and wanted to drop the subject. "I still feel a little funny, but I'm good. So if the impound is still open, we should go get my car."

"Where's your ring?" He wrapped his fingers around my hand and smoothed a finger over the raw, dry patch of skin on my index finger.

"Had to take it off. Don't worry, I think it's still in my pants."

Ben sighed heavily in my face and his expression became resolved. He moved forward, leaning into me so that I had no choice but to sit back. He placed a knee beside me on the couch, his face inches from my own.

"I have to see," he said quietly, and grabbed my jaw in his left hand, forcing my mouth open with his right where he dug his thumb into the tissue above my upper left canine.

I grunted in protest and shoved him away. He flew back several feet, which should have surprised me since I hadn't thought I pushed him that hard, but I was too preoccupied with getting some distance between us to consider it. I jumped over the back of the couch and watched him warily.

Ben picked himself up off the floor, but he was shaking so bad, he had to grab hold of the coffee table to steady himself.

"Fuck me," Ben gasped.

I nodded in agreement, but kept my mouth shut.

He was gritting his teeth, his jaw clenched so tight that the tendons in his neck were starting to bulge. His breath was coming through his teeth in short pants. When he fell to his knees before toppling over onto his side, I ran to the kitchen.

I was too afraid to approach Ben because I didn't know what was wrong with him, and his behavior had been so far off from normal. I snatched up the phone and hesitated a moment over whether to call 9-1-1 or one of Ben's "brothers" instead. Afraid to involve the police, I dialed Gabe's number. He was not only Ben's best friend, but I trusted him more than anyone else in Ben's circle. His brothers as he called them.

"Gabe's phone. Gabe's passed out on the floor. Please le-"

"Mitch! Something's wrong with Ben. I need help over here." I cried, cutting him off.

"Wha? Hey, you're back!" There was a shuffling sound on the other end, and I think Mitch dropped the phone. I loved Ben's friends, but sometimes I wished they weren't all a bunch of idiots. "Dude, Eryn's back." I could hear him faintly, speaking away from the phone.

"Mitch!" I screamed into the phone to get his attention again.

"Man, don't yell." He whined into the phone. I could hear Gabe in the background asking for the phone.

"Eryn?"

Thank God.

"Gabe, I need you. I think Ben's sick, but I don't want to be stupid and call an ambulance or something if I'm over-reacting. But he's been acting funny." I stretched the phone cord out so I could step out of the kitchen and get a look at what Ben was doing. He was still on the floor where he'd fallen over, but he didn't look like Ben anymore.

"I have to go," I whispered into the phone and dropped it.

Ben's head jerked up when the phone clattered to the floor. His eyes were a bright golden color rather than his usual blue. His skin looked waxy and slick, with sweat pouring down his face. He had hair everywhere, and as I watched, I could see more sprouting out all over his body in silver tufts. It was like I was watching a really bad horror movie with crappy special effects. Everything looked fake.

Ben grunted, or what used to be Ben did. From where I stood, I could only see the front half of him, but it was more than I wanted to see. His hands were gone and in their place were what looked to be paws. But it was his face that my eyes were most drawn to. His ears were _moving_, sliding upwards towards the top of his head, his nose was flattening out, and his jaw was jutting forward.

With a snarl, he shook himself and regained his feet. All four of them. The sudden movement knocked some sense back into my head and I measured the distance to the front door, but Ben was closer to the door than I was, and when I took a step in that direction, his ears, which were now covered in fur and pointed, laid back against his skull and he let out a low growl.

I backpedaled toward the bedroom, keeping my eyes on him. The second I stepped into the hallway, I could no longer see him.

"Ben?" I asked softly, my voice shaky. I backed up the last couple of feet until I stood in the doorway to the bedroom. I took up position behind the door, so I could peer around it and slam it closed if I needed to.

A terror-filled moment later, a huge, silvery gray wolf stepped into the hallway. I shook my head at him, because even though I knew this was Ben, it couldn't be Ben.

"Ben!" I called, and the wolf's ears pricked forward. He stared at me, like he wasn't sure what he should do about me. He whined.

We stood there staring at one another, neither of us moving. But when I felt the tears pool at my eyes and finally overflow, streaking down my face, he lifted his head and sniffed. Taking a hesitant step forward, closer towards me, he pulled his lips back from his teeth.

It was then that I did something really stupid. I growled back at him. I hadn't intended to. I didn't think about it. I just did it. His reaction was instantaneous and violent. He shook his head, the snarl he released deafening. I was slamming the door shut as his body leapt forward. The door shuddered under his weight as he threw himself against it, trying to get to me. I twisted the lock on the door knob, no matter that the animal didn't have hands to turn the handle.

The door vibrated as the wolf clawed at it. I could hear wood splintering and I could only guess he was using his teeth to work at the door as well. I didn't know if the door would last long under that kind of assault, and I really didn't want to find out, but feared I'd learn soon enough. I hid in the closet and waited.


	6. Chapter 6

The sounds of my bedroom door being destroyed didn't last long. I heard him whine once after he gave up, and then I heard nothing for a while. A few really long minutes passed, in which I knew there was no way in hell I was leaving that closet to find out what was going on. When I heard the front door to the apartment open, followed by muffled voices, I could have cheered if I hadn't still been too afraid to make any noise.

There was a shout followed by another whine at the door. I strained to hear what was happening, but I couldn't hear anything else. I cracked the closet door open and peeked out at the bedroom door. It was still there at any rate, and it didn't look damaged from my side. I knew that wouldn't be the case for the other side, not with all that splintering I'd heard.

There was a loud knock at the door and I jumped, my hands flying to my throat.

"Eryn?" Gabe called. "You alive in there?"

I sighed, and nodded dumbly as though he could see me. "I'm okay," I lied.

"Just stay put for a minute." He said, as though I had any intention of doing anything else.

I sat on the bed and rubbed the drying tears out of my eyes. My hand came away flecked in red, but I didn't have time to wonder why before there was another knock at the door, this time not so aggressive.

"Eryn?"

It was Ben. I stiffened and didn't answer. I didn't want to talk to him.

"Please open the door." He sounded very tired.

"No," I said, feeling like a sullen child. And then, because I wasn't sure what had happened to him, except that something definitely _had_ happened, I asked, "Are you okay?"

He made a sound that might have been been a sorry attempt at a laugh. "Yeah," he said. "You?"

I didn't answer, because really, I didn't know how to answer.

"Open the door, Eryn. We need to talk."

I shook my head. "No, I can't do that. I might not know what happened out there, but I'm pretty sure I don't want you in here."

"Please? I'm not going to hurt you, I swear. I just need to talk to you." Ben's voice was quiet and controlled, like he was very close to losing it.

When I didn't answer, the there was a heavy thump against the door, like it'd been kicked. I sucked in a breath. Someone yelled Ben's name and then his heavy footsteps retreated to the living room. Before I could relax, more footstep followed, these much lighter. There was a light tap at the door, and the doorknob rattled.

"It's Gabe, so stop being a bitch and let me in. Ben's in the other room, where he's going to _stay_. So you have nothing to worry about. If you don't open the door, I'll either pick the lock or kick the damned door down."

I clenched my fists and jumped up from the bed, fear instantly replaced with irritation. Gabe knew me well enough to know what buttons to push. He could be an asshole, but he was usually a well meaning one.

I pulled the bedroom door open, grabbed Gabe by the arm, and pulled him into the bedroom. A quick look down the hall showed me Mitch, but nobody else was visible. He had a dazed look on his face. But Mitch was just a kid, really. He often had a dazed look on his face.

I shut the door again and relocked it, but I didn't turn around. Instead I pressed my forehead against the door and asked after Ben again. "Is he okay?"

"Don't worry about Ben." Gabe was standing so close behind me that I could feel the heat of his body, but instead of being comforted by his presence, I was feeling on guard. "I need you to turn around and look at me."

I laughed, but it was humorless. I didn't want a repeat of my conversation with Ben. Not with Gabe too.

"Something happened to you. I need to see that you're okay." Gabe put a hand on my shoulder, and as soon as he touched me, the tears were flowing again. I spun around and buried my face in his shoulder and sobbed.

"There's nothing wrong with me," I mumbled. "Ben freaked out on me and... something happened."

"Okay," Gabe patted the back of my head awkwardly, which kind of made me feel bad for crying all over him. He pushed me away gently, taking a step back and peered into my face. I wiped my eyes again and sniffed.

"If you shove your fingers in my mouth, I'll bite them off." I smiled weakly. Gabe didn't laugh.

"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror since you got home?" He asked instead.

I groaned. I so didn't care how awful I looked just then.

"Not really. Not since before I went to bed. Why, you going to tell me I look like shit again? I kind of feel like shit, thank you."

He shook his head, and just gave me this really pitiful look. "You should take a look, Chewie." He sounded sad too. It freaked me out a little bit and made me feel a little self conscious.

Ben and I didn't have any mirrors in the bedroom, so I had to open the door again and I wasn't looking forward to doing that. The bathroom was two quick strides away though. I felt a little silly, but I opened the bedroom door and dashed into the other room as quickly as I could. Mitch was still standing at the end of the hall, and the fleeting look I had of him showed him wide eyed and a little freaked. The poor kid was probably as confused as I was. He was only fifteen, but spent a good deal of time with his four older "brothers". I didn't know how bad his home life was, but I did know he crashed at Gabe's place more often than not.

Gabe was right behind me, and when it looked like Mitch was trying to get an eyeful, he shut the bathroom door, leaving us alone again. He flipped the lights on while I stood there gawking at him. I didn't know if he was protecting me or guarding me, and while I couldn't comprehend why it might be the latter, the idea made me angry.

I turned to the mirror, half expecting to find my face was disfigured or covered in sores, bruises... something hideous. What I did see, before noticing anything else, was all the blood. Every tear that had run down my face had left a telltale trail of red behind. It wasn't thick, like when you cut yourself and bleed. It was more like blood had gotten mixed in with my tears, leaving them stained.

"I hit my head," I said quietly, as though that simple statement could explain everything.

Gabe just stood there watching me as I turned the sink on and scrubbed my face clean. I patted myself dry with a towel and turned my eyes back to my reflection.

With the blood gone, the next thing I noticed was how clear and smooth my skin looked. My complexion was like porcelain. I had never had bad skin exactly, but it's the rare girl who has perfect skin. Now I was one of them. And then I noticed my scar was missing. Since I was twelve years old and had the chicken pox, I'd had a circular scar smack in the center of my forehead. There was no sign of it. That was when I really started looking for changes in my appearance. My hair looked brighter, a paler shade of honey blonde, though I wasn't sure if it really was, because I also looked quite a bit paler and that could have explained the difference. My eyes were also paler than normal, an icy shade of green, and as I moved my head this way and that, they flashed in the light, much the way a cat's eyes do.

"Am I still sick?" I asked Gabe, turning to him, my face scrunched up in confusion.

"You told Ben you were bit," he said. When he could see I didn't understand the significance, he scratched his head and shuffled his feet like he really didn't want to say his next few words. "You're a vampire."

I arched an eyebrow at him. He stared back, not even cracking a smile.

"Gabe... I'm pretty much having the worst night of my life. If you're going to make jokes instead of explaining what the hell is going on, I'm going to lose it and then you're going to lose it. Got it? Anything you can think of that you'd miss, hmm?" I flicked my hand towards his crotch, but he snatched my wrist in his fist and stepped into my personal space, backing me up against the sink. His body pressed against mine.

"You saw Ben turn into a wolf. I know you did, so don't try and tell me you don't know what you saw. He told me what happened. It's a shitty way for you to find out your boyfriend's a werewolf, but that's the least of your worries now. Maybe you really are confused and you can't remember what happened to you. I'll give you that. But let us please skip the part where you deny that things like vampires and werewolves exist." He spun me around so I was facing the mirror again and then for the second time, I had someone forcing their fingers into my mouth.

Gabe wrapped his right hand around my throat to hold me still. My body was still squeezed between the counter and his body, leaving me nowhere to go. I used both my hands to try and pry his hand from my throat, but he wasn't choking me, so when it became clear his hand wasn't going to budge, I made due with clawing the crap out of him instead.

He pressed his thumb and forefinger above my upper canines and dug them into my gums. It was almost exactly what Ben had done, and I still didn't know why. But this time I could see the affects of the pressure placed there. It wasn't exactly like what usually happens in the movies. My canines didn't miraculously sharpen. They were already pointed and sharp. What they did do was elongate until they were half again as long as the teeth next to them. It was fairly subtle, and when Gabe removed the pressure from my gums, they immediately returned to normal, sliding back up into my gums.

Gabe loosened his grip on me, having shown me what I needed to see, he no longer had a reason to restrain me. I shoved him away when he didn't move fast enough and backed away from him until I was standing in the shower with my back against the wall. We stared at one another, neither of us moving except for the shake of my head, denying what I'd seen and what he claimed.

"I want to see Ben," I whispered, though I didn't know if it were true. I was afraid to see him again, but I also needed to see him.

Gabe stood there and didn't give any indication that he'd heard me. I was about to repeat myself when he nodded and pulled the door open again. He didn't walk out ahead of me, but stepped aside instead. I hated the fact that I would have preferred to be able to hide behind him.

I paused beside him, hesitant. "He attacked me. Or tried to."

"He told me," Gabe put a hand on my shoulder and I had the strong urge to lean into him, and felt ashamed for feeling that way. I just wanted to touch someone. I wanted more comfort than what a thoughtlessly placed hand could offer.

"Why?"

"Shouldn't be hard to understand," he shrugged. "He was caught off guard when he saw what happened to you. He lost control. Don't worry, he'll be all right."

I shook my head again, because regardless of what I'd seen, it couldn't be true. None of it could be true.

"I could turn and give you further proof," Gabe offered, my thoughts plain on my face. But then he grinned. "I wouldn't attack, even if you were stupid enough to growl at me. I have better control than that."

I cringed and took a step away, putting a few more inches of distance between us. "You too? You think you're... like that?"

"Werewolves," Gabe leaned over, whispering loudly in my ear. "Yes, we all are. Me, Ben, Mateo, Jason, even Mitch."

I shivered, but then my jaw dropped at the though of Mitch. "He's just a baby!"

Gabe shrugged.

"So are you like, a pack of wolves? I suppose you're the leader?" I tried to laugh, like it sounded so stupid he shouldn't bother to play along.

"Exactly, and you would suppose correctly."

I darted out the bathroom, my nerves somewhat quenched by the fact that everything sounded so ridiculous, surely I would walk into the other room only to find out everything was a really awful, tasteless joke. Gabe followed right on my heels.

Nobody was laughing. I moved past Mitch, who took a few quick steps away from me, eying me like I was the boogeyman. Mateo and Jason were both there, Mateo sitting on the couch beside Ben and Jason at the front door, leaning against it with his arms crossed like he were on guard duty. None of them turned their heads toward me, but I could feel their eyes on me all the same. Except for Ben. He not only didn't glance at me, but he looked away from me altogether. My heart clenched in my chest and I had to swallow a lump in my throat. I collapsed into the recliner, the seat furthest from Ben and pulled a throw blanket over myself.

Gabe took position a few feet away from me and crossed his arms, mirroring Jason. A moment later he dropped them and shoved his hands into his pockets instead. I couldn't help but notice how much less threatening he looked without his arms crossed. I had never thought of Gabe as intimidating before, but I hadn't missed it this time.

"Mat, take Mitch home." Gabe was staring straight ahead, like he was deep in thought as he issued the order, so he missed the sour look Mateo gave him. He couldn't miss Mitch's though.

Mitch puffed up immediately, irate at the idea that he might miss something. "C'mon! You're always leaving me out of everything. How am I supposed to learn anything if you always send me packing every time something good happens?"

Gabe shot the kid a warning look that would probably have shut me up, even before I learned how insane he was. Not Mitch though.

"Are you going to kill it?" He asked, practically bouncing on his heels, eager to see my blood shed.

Ben growled and Mateo had to fling his arm out to keep him from flying off the couch. Jason laughed, shaking his head. I seethed, not having missed being referred to as an 'it'.

"Now," was all Gabe said in response, remaining frustratingly calm.

"I'll take him," Jason volunteered, still smiling at Mitch's disturbing desire to see my nightmare play out.

Gabe nodded his consent, and Jason very nearly dragged Mitch out of the apartment, who complained the entire way.

Ben turned to look at me the moment they were out the door, and while he averted his eyes after just a few seconds, it was enough to start the tears flowing again. I wiped furiously at my eyes with the throw, but Mateo saw the blood.

"Jesus," he muttered. "So what do we do? Hunt the mother effers down? This is a declaration of war, no? Should not be hard to find them."

"War? Maybe. Clearly this was a personal attack to get our attention, but we don't know the motivation behind it. Either way, we're not doing anything tonight." Gabe turned to look at me, but I don't think it was me he spoke to. "It'll be morning soon."

"I might know someone," Ben stared at the floor as he spoke, lest he accidentally look in my direction again. I stared at him, willing him to look up. "Well, I know _of_ someone. Some guy named Nicky. Supposedly, he's from our side of the fence, but he's not a wolf so he hangs out with the vamp crowd and trades info back and forth. Finding him might be a start to finding who did this."

Gabe stiffened for just an instant, drawing my eye back to him, but he relaxed again so quickly that I wasn't sure what I'd seen. His eyes were hard though, and his jaw twitched once before he responded to Ben's suggestion.

"I don't think I'd trust anything he'd have to say, but if you want to track him down, you're free to do so. You do it alone though. I don't want any of the rest of us involved with that trash." Ben and Mateo both gave Gabe twin looks of confused alarm. Mateo opened his mouth, but Gabe turned on them both before he could speak. "It's not open for discussion. Ben talks to him alone. If he can _find_ the guy."

Mateo shot Ben a sympathetic look when Gabe wasn't watching. Ben shrugged.

"Ben?" I asked, almost breathing his name more than speaking it. I was so afraid he'd ignore me completely if I spoke to him, but I needed him. I know he heard me because he lifted his head, listening. He didn't turn towards me though. Mateo on the other hand, turned to watch me again, his expression sympathetic. But then, Mateo was so laid back and easy going, I didn't think anything could disturb him. When I made eye contact with him, he winked. It was almost enough to make me smile. Mateo liked everyone. I should have known he wouldn't turn on me. It was enough to lend me a little more confidence.

"Ben?" I said again, this time loud enough that he couldn't pretend he hadn't heard me.

"Yeah," he sounded hoarse, but he'd answered me, so it sounded sweet to my ears. He finally looked up at me and didn't look away.

"Can I talk to you?" I stood up and stalked down the hallway back to the bedroom, effectively forcing Ben to follow me. At least, unless he didn't want to talk to me. I sat on the bed and wrapped the throw tightly around me and started counting silently to myself. If he didn't come to me by the count of twenty, I was going to go back out there and strangle him.

I go to the count of seven.

Ben pushed the door open wider as he entered the room, giving us very little privacy, but at least we couldn't be seen from the other room. I had to wonder if it was because he didn't trust me, or because he didn't trust himself.

I clenched handfuls of fringe from my throw in my fists, and forced myself to remain seated. What I desperately wanted was to throw myself into Ben's arms. But, while I couldn't think of any time in the past where he would have minded my doing so, I didn't think he'd appreciate it now. Not when he didn't even want to look at me. I moaned, not really meaning to.

"Are you going to kill me?" I asked him, thinking about what Mitch had said, and feeling foolish asking such a question.

Ben's head shot up and the look of surprise on his face gave me hope, like he thought my question was as stupid as I thought it sounded. But after a few seconds, he just looked ashamed and an icy chill worked its way up my spine.

"Why?" I cried, shredding the throw in frustration. "Why do you hate me? None of this is my fault. I haven't _done_ anything."

Ben was on the bed beside me in an instant, his arms around me. I stifled a growl and became completely rigid, mistaking his intent, but then he was whispering over and over that he was sorry.

"I don't hate you. I could _never_ hate you. What those people did to you is so wrong, it makes me sick. I just want to find them and rip them apart. I'll do it if I can, I swear to you I'll destroy them for this. But I can't fix this. I can't fix you."

"There's nothing wrong with me," I argued, but I couldn't bring myself to feel the anger I thought I should. His arms were around me, and that was all I wanted. He was so warm, and he felt so good, I just melted into him. My arms went around his waist and I snuggled into his chest, holding on for dear life.

I pulled myself up along his body until we were eye to eye and he leaned his head towards mine until our foreheads touched and our lips were so close I could feel his breath brushing along my mouth.

"I love you," I whispered, and hoped it didn't sound as desperate to him as it did to me.

Then he closed the tiny distance between our mouths and kissed me. It was a gentle kiss, one that was barely there, but I moaned from the pleasure of it. I felt that kiss in every molecule of my body and for a second, the craving for warmth I'd been craving was sated. But then that craving returned and I pressed my mouth to his, seeking more warmth.

"So warm," I gasped but couldn't bear to break our kiss long enough to say more and when he tried to pull away, I would have none of it.

"Eryn," he gasped as he fended me off. He was breathing heavy when he broke our kiss, but he didn't push me away completely.

"I'm so cold," I whined, trying to get closer to him, but there was no getting closer. Not unless we shed our clothes. It wasn't a bad idea. I took hold of the bottom of his shirt, ready to rip it off of him if I had to.

Ben pushed my hands away and I whimpered. "You're not just cold, Eryn. You're dead. Your body doesn't make its own heat anymore. And I'm no warmer than I ever am."

Startling even myself, I growled, shoving him down onto the bed to rest on his back. I was on top of him and in his face, my hands squeezing his shoulders. It happened so quickly that he didn't have time to fend me off, and once I was over him, straddling his waist, he didn't try to shove me away. He did tense beneath me, gripping my forearms. He was ready.

"I am not a goddamned stupid ass vampire! There's no such thing, and if you and your idiot friends want to keep insisting I am, I'm going to have you all locked up in separate padded cells because clearly you're too unstable to be allowed out in public." I ranted at him, shaking his shoulders. "And I am _not_ dead, you jackass. _Look_ at me. Do I feel dead to you?"

He sighed heavily, and threw his weight to the side so that I fell to the side, but instead of turning the tables, he only placed a hand on my neck, and looked at me with this horribly pitiful expression.

"You don't feel dead? Eryn, you're not breathing. Do you realize that? Your heart isn't even beating."

"Then why didn't you bite me instead so this wouldn't happen to me?" I closed my eyes so I didn't have to see the look on his face.

He laughed, which really made me want to kick him. "Christ Eryn, it doesn't work that way. Biting you never would have done anything but get me socked in the face for rough foreplay. I was born this way. We can't infect people like they can."

"I don't have any insatiable urge to start sucking on anyone's throat," I offered lamely, grasping at whatever little thing I could think of.

When I opened my eyes again, he was smiling at me. "I don't get the urge to attack cows when I drive out to the country either. Doesn't mean I don't want to snack on a burger now and then." His smile vanished and he turned serious. "You will have to eat eventually."

I cringed, thinking back to that ride I'd gotten on my way home the night before. I remembered Hector waving his knife in my face, and I remembered him slumped over his steering wheel. What I couldn't remember was what had happened in the middle, and I didn't care to.

"I think I already did," I confessed. "I think I hurt someone."


	7. Chapter 7

I paced back and forth in the bedroom, trying to sort everything out in my head. Ben had left to fill Gabe and Mateo in on what few details I could impart with about what had happened with Hector.

I concentrated on my breathing, or the lack thereof. It was disconcerting. I held my breath until I got tired of doing so, but I felt no urge to take another. I let the breath out and that was it. I didn't inhale again, and there was no pain in my lungs. Vaguely, I wondered at how I could still smell if I only breathed in order to speak.

Ben returned and I watched him in silence as he got a bag from the closet and began to shove a few changes of clothes into it.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to stay at Gabe's place for a few days," he didn't look up at me.

"Why?" I cried, "Because I defended myself when some asshole attacked me? What if those people come back here to finish me off? Are you seriously going to leave me alone right now?"

He hesitated, but but then shoved a handful of socks into the bag and zipped it closed. "Listen... you're going to sleep all day anyway. You won't miss me. No vampire is going to come here during the day, and I'll be back tomorrow night. I promise."

I let my head fall back and closed my eyes. I felt so tired.

"Just kill me," I said. "I don't want to do this."

Ben put an arm around me kissed me chastely on my temple. "Get some sleep. I'll be back soon."

And then he walked out on me.

- x x x -

As soon as I heard the front door close behind the three traitors, I started rummaging through Ben's drawers. I shoved socks aside, looked under lazily folded t-shirts, and dug under stacks of boxer shorts. When I slid my hand under a pair of flannel pajama bottoms, my fingers brushed over the top of a box. Tossing the pants aside, I uncovered an old cigar box. Ben didn't smoke.

I lifted the lid, and peered inside. It might sound odd that I wouldn't have already known what lie inside, but I don't snoop. Though Ben and I had lived together for well over a year, we were as respectful of each others privacy as we comfortably could be. Going through his things like this would normally have left me feeling guilty, but I no longer had such luxury.

The box didn't contain what I was looking for, but it did hold one thing that caught my attention and curiosity. A little gold velvet box rested in the corner, amid a handful of foreign coins from countries Ben had never visited, a tiny silver key, and one blue bubblegum cigar. I lifted the jewelry box out and opened it, mostly expecting to find a class ring, but I recognized the jeweler's name on the box and I didn't think they sold anything like that. What I found instead caused me unimaginable pain. I clenched my teeth to keep a mourning cry from escaping, because this was something I now doubted Ben would ever want me to see. It was an engagement ring.

My tears flowed freely. There was no one to see. I wondered when Ben had bought it; when he had planned to propose. We had talked about marriage before, but only casually. I think we had both just sort of assumed it would happen, so neither of us had thought it was something that needed much consideration.

I didn't want Ben to know I'd ever found the ring. I closed the box, shutting the delicate solitaire away from my sight. I placed it back in the cigar box and went back through the drawers I'd torn through, carefully setting everything back the way I'd found it.

I felt exhausted, and the sky was beginning to show signs of lightening. I knew I'd slept in this room through the last day with no more protection from the sun than a pair of mini-blinds covering the window, but I didn't know how this vampire thing worked. Not that I was convinced yet. I giggled at the thought of vampires, though it came out more like a hiccup through my tears. It was all so stupid. So beyond ridiculous, but I was scared. If it _was_ true... if I was a vampire, then it stood to reason that I couldn't tolerate the sun, despite my being exposed earlier. Maybe I'd still been crossing over or whatever it was, and that was why I'd been okay.

I giggled again, because for one, I was starting to feel a little hysterical, and two, if I didn't laugh about it I was going to start screaming instead and I didn't think my neighbors would be pleased with me if I did.

Kneeling beside the bed, I pulled the comforter up and looked underneath. There was a lot of dust, a wadded up tissue, and a pencil. Shaking my head, I stood back up. That's when I noticed something just barely peeking out from under Ben's nightstand. I nudged it with my foot, pushing it out from under the table and sighed with relief.

I sat on the bed and picked up the small black case, and felt a sudden wave of nervousness. This was what I was looking for, but now that I was so close to having its contents in my hands, I wasn't sure I actually wanted it. I pried the two latches open, figuring just because I opened it, it didn't mean I had to go through with anything. But I got no further.

"Dammit!" I tossed the locked case onto the bed and went back to the dresser. I found the cigar box again and snatched up the silver key I'd noticed before and said a small prayer. A smile spread across my face as the key turned and the case popped open. Inside lay Ben's Glock 19, two empty clips or magazines or whatever the hell they were called, and three boxes of ammunition.

I didn't recognize one of the boxes. It had the word silver scrawled across the top, and excluding that, the box was unmarked. Opening it, I found nothing obviously unusual about the bullets. They were silver inside of a brass casing. Perfectly normal. I bit my lip. Silver bullets? Really? If they were actually honest to God silver bullets, why in the hell would a werewolf have them in his possession? Unless maybe they used them on each other. I didn't know if werewolves fought with each other, but then, I didn't know a damned thing about them, so why should I.

My fingertips itched as I loaded the magazine, and once it was full I inserted it into the handgun and chambered a round. The gun case, along with the extra clip and bullets, I placed under the bed.

While the thought of aiming the gun at my temple and pulling the trigger did cross my mind, it was only a very vague passing idea and not one I really gave any serious consideration to. I was certainly depressed, but I was not suicidal. I might have allowed Ben to kill me, but I wouldn't kill myself. It was protection I was after, because while I may have been trying to guilt Ben into staying with me by mentioning that someone might come for me, I did think it was possible.

I grabbed a pillow off the bed, retrieved the mangled throw, and retreated to the closet where I was at least sure I wouldn't be burned alive by sunlight. Not that I believed I would be.


	8. Chapter 8

- Tuesday -

The sound of the phone ringing woke me up and for a panicked second I thought I was in a cave. Then I rolled over onto one of Ben's steel toed work boots and remembered precisely where I was. Without a thought, I pushed the door open and stumbled out of the closet in search of the phone.

As I stepped into the kitchen, the answering machine clicked on and Ben's voice filled the room, requesting the caller to leave their name and number. I picked up the phone and turned the machine off, as much to shut out his voice as to answer the phone.

"Hello," I said, then reached over to the blind covered window above my kitchen sink. I parted them to take a peek outside and squinted into the bright sunlight. I could see my car was back where it belonged and made a mental note to thank Ben for getting it out of the impound.

"Eryn? It's mom. That boy of yours called and told us you were back home but he wouldn't let us talk to you. Are you okay? We've been worried about you!"

I groaned, and then winced when my mom continued yelling into the phone.

"I'm fine, mom. I had the flu and hit my head. I've just been sleeping it off." I pulled the blinds open, despite the pain it caused my eyes. The sunlight was warm, and I still felt cold. I smiled, the warm prickling on my skin making me feel content.

My mom rattled on, mostly offering her unwanted opinions on my life and relationships.

"Mom, nobody is trying to isolate me from my friends or family. Have you been taking your..." I sighed loudly and made a face into the phone as I was told what a disrespectful child I was.

I gasped, clenching my fist tightly around the phone as a wave of pain wracked my body.

"I have to go," I whispered into the phone and set the handset down on the counter. My mom's voice continued, clearly audible though I wasn't paying any attention.

The pain faded quickly and I frowned. Just as I was recovering, I was hit by another wave of agony, so much worse than the first. I doubled over and vomited noisily onto the floor, thickly coagulated blood spewed forth and I crumpled to the floor. I raised a hand to wipe my mouth and gawked at the sight of my hand. Only it wasn't just my hand. Everywhere I looked my veins were turning black beneath my skin.

I shrieked and scurried out of the kitchen, desperate to get back to the safety of my closet. I was finally a believer.

- x x x -

I couldn't sleep again after that. My entire body throbbed, and while I didn't get sick again, the pain wouldn't leave me. So I lay there on the floor, curled into a tight ball, watching the tiny crack of light under the door get fainter and fainter. I wouldn't open the door again until that little line marched its way back under the door and vanished completely.

I was never going to enjoy another summer day swimming in the backwaters of the great muddy Mississippi River. I was never going to lounge on the patio in my bikini, baking my skin until I got that perfect tan. I was going to spend the rest of my life hiding in that stupid closet. I really hated vampires. I had always thought they were silly, and the only times I had ever watched them on TV or gone to the movies was when Ben had wanted to see something and I'd laughed every damned time one of the actors would open their mouth for no other reason than to show off their expensive dental props.

I ran my tongue over my teeth. Except for when Gabe had accosted me in the bathroom and shoved his fingers in my mouth, I had seen no sign of fangs in my own mouth. At least I wasn't doomed to spend eternity hissing at people and walking around with my mouth hanging open so everyone could admire my nice pointy teeth.

Thinking of Ben, and how I'd always thought he looked like he belonged in California, riding the waves in Malibu or something, I had to laugh. He'd never so much as visited the ocean, but with his short blonde hair that curled when it got too long, his naturally golden skin tone, bright blue eyes, and all around good looks, I imagined he'd fit right in with that scene. I'd never get to find out.

I just hoped I wasn't expected to dye my hair black, wear slinky dresses designed to make guys look everywhere but at my face, and wander around saying "bleh" at random.

Running a hand over my face, I had to admit one point. At least vampirism appeared to be good for one's complexion.

- x x x -

The retreating band of light under my door had nearly disappeared when I heard footsteps coming from somewhere else in the apartment. I listened closely and made sure the Glock was where it should be, out of the way in the corner, but within easy reach. I was still curled into a ball, and though much of the pain wracking my body had diminished, I still felt like I'd been staked out in the desert sun without water for about a week. It was like a sunburn, but on the inside. For once I was grateful for the fact that I felt chilled.

The footsteps quickened, coming closer until I heard them in the hallway and then in the bedroom just feet away from where I rested. They paused for a moment, then began back out of the room. I heard a muffled oath.

"Ben?" I called, my voice cracking. I tried to work some moisture into my mouth.

The footsteps stopped again, then returned slowly, like the owner wasn't sure where to go.

"Eryn?" Ben asked from right outside the door, then opened it with a confused look on his face. "Why are you in the closet?"

"The phone rang." I muttered.

"Okay..." He knelt down beside me and put a hand on my shoulder.

I flinched at his touch, not because I was afraid of him, but because I expected it to hurt. I relaxed with a heavy sigh when it didn't.

"I feel crispy," I laughed.

"Your mom left a voice-mail on my phone. She asked me to tell you she wasn't amused and if you didn't want to talk to her, then you could have just said so instead of slamming the phone down and screaming at her." Ben's eyes moved over my body before settling on my face. "What did you do to yourself?"

"Do I look bad? I answered the phone and the sunshine felt so good. And then... ohh... it sucked. I feel like I've been microwaved."

Now that I could see, I pulled my arms up to take a look. My veins were no longer visibly black beneath my skin. I couldn't see anything abnormal at all, except the whole pale thing, and even that was fairly subtle. It wasn't like I suddenly looked like I had a bucket of white stage paint slathered all over my body.

"What part of vampire don't you understand?" Ben sounded annoyed as he helped me pull myself up into a sitting position and then stand. When he started to let go, I wobbled dangerously and he had to put an arm back around me to keep me upright. "The whole sunlight thing is real. You might not burst into flames, but it's going to make you real sick. You're lucky you didn't kill yourself. You'll be fine sleeping in bed if you keep the blinds closed. Light isn't going to hurt you. You just need to steer clear of direct sunlight, okay?"

I snickered though it wasn't really funny, but I was still feeling loopy.

"You need blood." He sad flatly.

"There's some in the kitchen!" I giggled.

"Shit," his cheek twitched.

I hated it when he clenched his teeth like that.

"Okay," he said, guiding me over to the bed and sat me down. "Can you... you know...? Can you extend your fangs?"

I laughed again, "Is this where you tell me to bite you?"

He rolled his eyes. "Did your mom loan you some of her magic happy pills? Come on, this is serious. You need blood."

"That's gross," I wrinkled my nose.

He shook his head, unamused and pulled a pocketknife from his jeans. He opened the blade and sliced into his upper forearm until there was an inch long cut. It looked pretty deep and he'd done it without the slightest hesitation though the tightness around his eyes gave the pain away. He swung his left leg behind me so he could get closer to me and brought his arm up to my mouth.

I watched the blood flow, horrified.

"Dammit, Eryn!" Ben cursed and when I only squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, he pushed the wound against my mouth and held my head in place with his other hand.

I wrapped my hands around his arm and bit him, and not in order to drink his damned blood either. The idea was disgusting, but when I felt a pair of teeth that I wasn't used to having sink into his flesh, my eyes flew open in surprise. Ben grunted, but he didn't jerk his arm away.

Blood flowed into my mouth, over my tongue, down my throat, and I swallowed whether I wanted to or not. It was hot, coppery, and tasted like I expected it to. Which is to say, it tasted like blood. Becoming a vampire didn't suddenly make blood taste like wine or anything so stupid. But it didn't make me gag either. I could feel it going down my throat and pooling in my stomach. Warmth spread through my body so quickly, banishing any lingering pain along with the cold, that I couldn't help but moan in absolute pleasure. I'd already forgotten how wonderful it felt to be warm.

I eased off, withdrawing my teeth so that I could get a better position on his arm and he took the opportunity to pull his arm away. I had to suppress the urge to pull his arm back to me, but I caught myself. He was barely bleeding now and the cut he'd given himself was already starting to scab over. The twin punctures from my teeth still oozed, but only a little. It was another thing to be relieved about. Feeding wasn't nearly as messy as it was in some of the movies.

I wiped my mouth to make sure I didn't have blood all over myself, but I could only feel a small patch of blood on my chin. I needed to shower anyway.

I grinned at Ben, who was ignoring me for the moment. He'd pulled a tissue from the box on my nightstand and was wiping his arm clean. I felt _good_. I didn't want to be ignored. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I flattened myself against his, getting as close as possible and nuzzled his neck. He sighed, not in pleasure, but like I was distracting him from something more interesting. But he wasn't pushing me away either, so I pressed on and nipped gently at his earlobe.

"Eryn," he said and sounded rather stern. But his tone just made me grin even wider and I kissed his throat. I worked my way up, leaving little kisses along his jaw, across his chin, until I reached his mouth and when I finally tasted his lips, I let my hand trail down until I had his groin cupped carefully in my hand. I felt him react to my touch instantly through his jeans and we both groaned, but his didn't sound nearly as appreciative as mine did.

Gently patting him between the legs, he flinched and I smiled against his mouth in satisfaction. I pulled away, my eyes locked onto his and he looked hungry in a way that excited me. I pulled my nightshirt up and over my head, tossing it aside and then went after the button of his jeans.

Ben opened his mouth to speak, but I really wasn't interested in conversation at that point. I splayed my fingers across his chest and pushed. Everything around me seemed to blur for a split second as I positioned myself over him. I rubbed myself against him this time, and was rewarded with a more appropriate groan from him.

His eyes flashed gold and a soft growl rumbled in his throat. I shivered.

"That is so goddamned hot," I whispered.

Ben was beginning to breath heavily with a slightly glazed look to his eyes so I wasn't expecting it when he hooked a leg around my ankles and the next thing I knew, I was flat on my back and he was hovering above me. When he lowered his mouth to my breast, I let my eyes drift closed and murmured something encouraging.

His teeth scraped my nipple and I clenched handfuls of the comforter in my fists. Working his way lower, he nipped lightly here and then, teasing me until I was rocking against him, wanting so much more than what he was giving me. When he reached my belly, he hooked a finger into the waistband of my shorts. I lifted my hips eagerly and he slid them down until I could kick them off the rest of the way.

I nearly whimpered in anticipation when he pulled my knees up and lowered his head between my legs. When his tongue darted out and tasted me, I bit into my lower lip hard enough to draw blood. I barely noticed. My entire body felt like it was on fire, but this time it was an exquisite pain and I never wanted it to end.

He went for another taste and I bucked, crying out. I didn't notice when he pulled his face away. At least not until he spoke.

"You smell different."

"What?" I cried, not understanding why he'd stopped.

"I can't do this." He shook his head.

"Why the fuck not?" I growled in frustrated outrage.

"Because you smell like a vampire, and I don't like it."

"Are you stupid?" I stared at him a moment, completely dumbfounded. When he only stared back at me, clearly unable to find the words necessary to placate me, I just felt pissed. Really freaking pissed and unsatisfied. I lifted my leg until my foot was level with his shoulder and gave him a hard shove, pushing him entirely off the bed.

He shot me a hard look as I leapt up and stomped out of the bedroom.

"I'm taking a shower," I called behind me.


	9. Chapter 9

Except for the radio blaring needlessly loudly, Ben and I sat in the car in total silence. He'd tried to explain and apologize to me but I hadn't wanted to hear it. We'd left the apartment with our backs up, bristling at each other like cats after their tails had been stepped on.

We were heading steadily closer to one of the nastier parts of town. It was a neighborhood of mixed race that while the police still patrolled here, it was quickly slipping towards one of those places where even they didn't feel safe. I reached over and locked my door.

Ben pulled up in front of a corner bar and parked. I shot him a look that clearly stated, 'hell no'. He just shrugged.

"Why am I even here?" I asked.

He sighed, "Because I doubt this guy is going to tell me anything if I don't have proof. You're my proof."

"Of what, fate having a nasty sense of humor?"

"No..." he said without patience. "You're proof that the vampires are trying to start a fight. They didn't just turn someone randomly. Why would they? They turned you because of who you know. They wanted to piss us off. This guy is in with the local vampires, so if you describe the two who did this to you, he can probably tell us who we need to go after."

"Okay... but if he's in with these people, then why the hell would he tell us anything?" I didn't get Ben's logic.

"Because he's also in with the other side. He trades information back and forth. Everybody knows this guy, or least they know of him." Ben got out of the car, cutting me off and any more questions I might have. I had little choice but to follow him inside.

We found Nicky towards the back of the bar, sitting alone in a booth along the wall. He was stretched out on the bench, a cigarette in one hand and a tumbler of... something... in the other. He was watching the goings on in the bar as his seat gave him a clear view of the entire place, and even though Ben had claimed never to have met the guy before, his eyes latched onto us as soon as we entered the place. I knew he was the one we were meeting before Ben got confirmation from the bartender who waved us off in Nicky's direction.

He appeared to be in his early thirties, had dirty blonde hair that hung down to his shoulders, but his face was clean shaven. His clothes were on the ratty and baggy side, and while you might not give him a second glance if you weren't paying close attention, if you did look closer, something about the focused look in his eyes gave away that his appearance just might be deceiving. Despite having the bad boy look going for him, I thought he'd look pretty hot if he cleaned himself up. The thuggish look was intimidating though, and I wouldn't want to run into him alone, or in a dark alley, or anywhere else you don't want to meet shady characters.

He stood up when we approached and I got a better look at him. He was definitely in good shape, and I'd yet to see him touch either his drink or the cigarette to his mouth. I wondered if they were just for show, and then I wondered why the hell I was being so paranoid.

"Nicky?" Ben asked, offering his hand.

The man nodded and put out his cigarette before shaking Ben's hand.

"I'm Ben Highcliff. I appreciate you meeting with me. This is Eryn." Ben nodding towards me and placed a hand on the small of my back so I'd slide onto the booth before him.

I returned the smile Nicky offered me and we shook hands. Ben, I bristled at all over again. He always, always, always introduced me as his girlfriend. This was the first time I could recall that he had not and it hurt. I knew it sounded petty, but I couldn't help feeling the sting the lack of those words had caused.

Ben had me describe Constance and Jonas to Nicky. I offered up every last detail that I could recall about what they looked like, what they'd said, what they'd done to me, and then I repeated every last bit of it all over again. I spoke in a dead monotone, refusing to go back there and experience it all over again. I was describing what happened to someone else, not me. I was emotionally detached from it. It was exhausting.

When I was done, I refused to go over it a third time. Nicky nodded thoughtfully. Ben slipped his hand onto my knee and leaned towards me until our shoulders touched. Instead of comfort, the contact only opened the door to all the feeling I'd shut out while retelling my story and I shuddered.

"They don't sound familiar, but I haven't met every vamp in the city much less heard of them all. It's possible they're outsiders though. If that's the case, the locals will want to know about it. I can pass on what you've told me and see what comes of it. Though honestly, I can't promise anyone will talk to me. I hear what they want me to hear, you know? But... this doesn't sound like the ones I know in charge around here. They like to keep things tidy. This isn't their style, and starting a fight with the big dogs, that's real messy." Nicky tapped his fingers on the side of his tumbler, before sitting back and crossing his arms. His brow was furrowed and he shook his head. I watched him, fascinated as I tried to read him.

Ben's cell rang and he pulled away from me to check the display. "Gabe," he said. "I have to take this. Excuse me."

I watched him as he hurried across the bar and disappeared through the exit. I sighed heavily once he was out of sight. I felt miserable.

"You're not the only ones, you know." Nicky said, watching me now.

"Hmm?" I kept my eyes on the door, waiting.

Nicky chuckled. "Not the whole mess you're in. Though I'm sure that's nothing new either. I just mean you and him. I know this wolf up the river a bit. He's got a vampire wife." He laughed again, like he thought it was a crazy idea.

My head snapped around and I faced Nicky. He had my attention now. "On purpose?"

He grinned, "Yeah but I hear she's crazy as a soup sandwich. I've never met her. He's a good guy though. Keeps odd company, but a good guy all the same."

I smiled, but it was forced. "I don't think I'll be so lucky. I know Ben loves me, but he kind of hates me now too. I don't know what the big deal is. He can barely look at me. Maybe he should have bitten me. Not that I wish I were... you know. But it has to be better than what I've got now."

Nicky gave me an odd look. "If he'd bitten you, you'd either just be pissed off or dead. It doesn't work like that for wolves. Not unless you're real damned lucky. They're born like they are, not made."

Mitch came to mind, and I felt some relief because if what Nicky was saying were true, that meant none of my friends had bitten the poor kid and made him what he was. It also gave me one less thing to hold against Ben and I hadn't even realized I'd been holding it against him.

"Well," I said. I couldn't say much else. Ben had tried telling me as much.

We sat in silence for a moment, though it wasn't awkward. Nicky went back to watching the goings on in the bar and left me to my thoughts.

"Why do they hate each other so much? Seems like every stupid movie I've ever seen with vampires and werewolves had them pitted against each other. I'd think each would mind their own business and... live and let live or something. I can't imagine their paths cross too often."

"Territory," Nicky said simply. He kept his eyes on the rest of the bar. "They're like greedy children, albeit homicidal ones, who never learned to share. Some try harder than others, but it rarely works out for long. Things have been good here though. It was all bound to blow up eventually."

I wanted to ask him more, but Ben returned and I lost my train of thought.

We wrapped things up pretty quickly after that. There wasn't much else to say, and while I knew I had about a million questions I should ask, I couldn't think of a damned one. When I glanced back in his direction as we walked out the door, I saw Nicky drain his glass in one shot. So much for not touching his drink.

- x x x -

Neither of us wanted to go home. I was sick of seeing the inside of the apartment and I think Ben felt guilty about abandoning me there. I had no misconceptions that he might actually want to be with me, but when he asked me what I wanted to do, I didn't hesitate to tell him.

"The park," I said. "I want to be outside in the fresh air. We should go to the Arch."

With a nod, he pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the riverfront.

Neither of us said a word as he drove, and as soon as we arrived and he'd parked the car again, I was out and walking. Being confined to a small space with a person you're pretty sure doesn't want you near them makes for a real damned uncomfortable time.

Ben's car door slammed behind me and he had to jog to catch up to me. He shot me an annoyed look which I ignored. Then he caught me off guard by slipping his hand into mine. It was such a normal thing for him to do. And that it no longer felt normal was awful. I felt my lower lip quiver, hating myself for feeling so weak and powerless, and a little angry with him for making me feel even the tiniest bit hopeful.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, and I didn't think I'd have heard him prefangedness.

"Yeah," I mumbled sourly. "Rejection's a bitch."

I refused to cry, if only for a selfishly stupid reason. I was ashamed that there was blood in my tears and I didn't want Ben to see that visual reminder of what I'd become. As if he needed to be reminded. I wished I could forget.

We wandered away from the walkways and skirted the better lit portions of the park. It was rather pointless since there wasn't another soul in sight. I could hear people from across the park nearer the arch and knew Ben would be able to hear them too, but we were well away from them. Still, it was out of habit that we always sought some measure of privacy. There were too many security cameras scattered throughout the park to offer more than that, even if there weren't any other people nearby.

He pulled me to a stop near the base of an oak tree and we sat facing each other, knees touching. That, coupled with being in the park after dark, all we were missing was the Ouija Board and a handful of candles. The thought make me snicker and when Ben arched an eyebrow at me, I just shook my head.

"What are we going to do?" I asked him. "Seriously. This is all just... it's not enough to say it's messed up. I don't think I even believe it yet."

"I was going to tell you eventually. It's a little difficult to broach the subject, you know? Whenever we've watched some of those cheesy werewolf movies, I've always been tempted to just say, 'I can totally do that.' but then there'd come the inevitable demonstration then the more inevitable screaming... probably lots of throwing of heavy things at my head."

"Probably," I agreed with a light smile. "And then I'd probably freak out too."

Ben grinned.

"I always hated those movies." I stared down at my hands in my lap. "Ghosts, I could totally deal with. But vampires are so... _lame_. Too lame to be real. And werewolves? Give me a break."

He just shrugged, but then he'd probably grown up knowing all of it was real.

"Nicky told me that our kinds hate each other because of squabbling over territory. I don't buy it though. So tell me, because as far as I'm concerned, I feel like the same damned person I've always been. So what is it?" I made myself look him in the eye so he couldn't ignore my question.

"Territory is only a small part of it. But everyone is different, and not everyone feels the same way. Part of it is ingrained in us. Things have always been touchy between our species. We're both predators and that's probably where the territory thing comes into it. A lot of it comes down to simple racism. At least, our equivalent of the idea. Their kind has done heinous things to mine throughout the ages, and mine have done just as bad to them. A violent history like that isn't easy to get past. For me, I see them as unnatural. They're dead things, but they're still walking around destroying life and spreading their disease. It's perverse."

"But some vampires and werewolves get along just fine, right?" I asked, fishing just a bit and ready with Nicky's example if he should argue.

"Sure, I guess. Maybe when necessary." He looked like he thought the idea was obscene.

"Okay," I gritted my teeth. "But it's pretty unfair to say I'm unnatural when you turn into a wolf. What the hell is natural about that?"

He just laughed, because he couldn't really argue. Instead he shifted around until he was sitting beside me and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me close. He rested his chin on my shoulder and stared out across the park at the river beyond. It was a beautiful view. I couldn't enjoy it, not with that mournful look in Ben's eyes. I couldn't help but feel like he was mourning me, like he'd lost me, like I was truly dead. I just wished he could see that I was still there.

We sat like that for what seemed like a very long time.

- x x x -

Guilt can be a very powerful tool. When it became clear that Ben intended to drop me off at home and return to Gabe's house, I put on my poor-pitiful-me face.

"You won't even come tuck me in?" I pouted. It was pretty disgusting, I'll admit. But if I could manage to get him in the door, then maybe I could talk him into staying instead of just saying goodbye.

"For a minute," he relented.

My smile was shamelessly triumphant and we walked upstairs hand in hand.

When I stripped and got ready for bed, all purposely in Ben's line of sight, he didn't look away. He didn't exactly _leer_ either though. I could have gone for a little leering.

I hopped into bed and tried to pull Ben along with me. I was still feeling frustrated from our unsuccessful romp earlier in the evening and dammit, I _needed_ him. It wasn't just that I was horny, but I really wanted that connection. And then I wanted us to fall asleep together, wake up together, and have everything wiped clean away like a bad dream.

Ben had other ideas. He resisted my attempts and pulled the covers over me and literally started tucking me into the bed. I had to bite my lip to keep from kicking them off with my legs and throwing a fit.

"This isn't exactly what I had in mind, you know." I said instead of what I really wanted to say, which included a lot of cussing and screaming.

"I can't stay. I have work in a few hours and if I don't want to lose my job, I can't miss another day."

"Then go to sleep. I won't molest you." I smiled.

He smiled back, "Liar."

My own smile wavered. "Is this how it's going to be now?"

"I don't know Eryn," he sounded tired. "I don't want to be an asshole. I know I'm not making any of this easier for you, but I don't know if I can _do_ this."

He wouldn't look at me anymore, and I knew I'd lost. Again.

"Nicky told me something," I started.

Ben shook his head, stopping me.

"Not right now," he said. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

He all but ran away from me and a second later I heard the front door open and close, the deadbolt locking an instant later. I sighed. Tossing the covers off, I slid back out of bed and retrieved the gun from the closet. I tucked it beneath Ben's vacant pillow and went to sleep, sullen and resentful.


	10. Chapter 10

- Wednesday -

I wasn't sure at this point whether vampires are deep sleepers or light sleepers. But when I awoke some time later, my bedroom still alight with indirect sunlight filtering in through the blinds covering my window, to the sight of a face hovering above my own, I hadn't heard a thing to warn me. Before the important information could register in my brain, such as who owned the face, I had my fist flying. I was far more successful with punching this time. I flexed my fingers. Nothing was broken.

The next thing I knew I was out of bed, Ben's Glock in my hand, my back against the wall. Gabe stood across the room from me, the bed between us. He wiped his nose, his brow furrowed. His nose was unbroken, but I'd made him bleed. When he looked at me, his eyes were that glowing golden color.

"What the fuck," I yelled, waving my hands.

He pointed, "Watch where you point that thing. And damn, when did you learn to throw a punch?"

I took his advice and pointed the gun straight at him. My hands shook, making the gun wobble in my hands, but at least it was aimed in his direction.

His lips curled back over his teeth. "Don't be rude. You're not going to shoot me."

In a movie this is where I would have cocked the hammer on the gun, but it was the wrong kind of gun for that sort of statement. I had to settle for glaring at him.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, glancing quickly down the hallway to see if he were alone.

"Came to see you," he said, slowly inching his way around the bed. "Couldn't wake you up. You know, you'd make a shitty wife... sleeping all day and leaving nasty messes around the house."

"Screw you," I kept the gun trained on him, and wished he'd hold still. I'd forgotten all about the mess in the kitchen, but I'd had a bit on my mind. I figured I could be excused for that one.

"Now, I think Benji might have an issue with that one." Gabe jumped a few feet to his left, testing my reflexes. I swung the gun with his movements. "Why don't you put the gun down? I haven't done anything to deserve that, now have I? Don't you think you're acting a little paranoid, pointing guns at friends?"

"Probably," I admitted. I tried to think if I'd noticed his eyes being gold before I'd punched him, or if they'd turned afterward. If they'd been that way first, then I thought I probably had fair reason not to trust him.

"Then put the gun down," he growled, flashing his teeth again. It could have been my imagination, but they were starting to look a little pointy. I really hoped he wasn't going to shift.

"I might make a lousy wife, but you'd be a shit negotiator. Why don't you just leave?" He was halfway around the bed now, still inching along and I was quickly running out of room to back further away. "And where's Ben?"

"Work."

"Shouldn't you be there?"

He grinned, "I'm on break."

"What are you doing here?"

"Now you're just repeating yourself. I'm doing Ben a favor. He can't take care of his own mess, then it's up to me to do it for him."

A chill ran up my spine. "Ben and I can work this out."

He shook his head, "It's not going to happen, Chewie. He's convinced himself that he'll take care of you after he gets revenge. But he won't do it; he can't kill you. The guilt would destroy him and you know it. It's already killing him. Me... I'll get over it."

"You're going to kill me?"

"That's the plan," he smiled.

"Okay." I said. "Thanks for clarifying."

He crouched and I lowered the gun to compensate. The second he moved forward, I fired.

The sound was deafening, not to mention painful. I'd never been around a gun being fired without ear protection, and in a fairly small space, the sound just bounced off the walls. The impact itself knocked Gabe on his back and I took a step forward, my eyes stinging and ears ringing. My body shook violently from shock.

"You fucking shot me!" Gabe wailed in disbelief.

I choked on a sob in response. I couldn't even tell where I'd hit him, but I could smell the blood.

"Shit," he sat up, and shot me a nasty look before inspecting the damage. I could see now that I'd hit him in the thigh, probably just missing the bone. He was lucky, considering I'd been aiming for his chest.

He poked a finger through the bullet hole left in his jeans and ripped it open a good six inches so he could see the wound better.

"Did you shoot me with silver?" He asked, incredulous.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

He barked a laugh. "Stupid bitch."

I glared at him through a red haze of tears.

"Silver doesn't kill werewolves," he grunted as he squeezed the flesh of his thigh with one hand. He was already bleeding, but now a thick gush of it welled up. I gagged at the sight of the gore. He fished around in the bullet hole, but I couldn't stand to look at it so I missed how he did it, but a second later he was holding the deformed silver bullet in his fingers. "It still fucking hurts though."

"Then why does Ben have them?" I asked. The gun was still in my hand, but my arm hung at my side and I didn't bother pointing it at Gabe. I didn't know if I could bring myself to shoot him again. He was supposed to be my friend. And not just because he was Ben's friend either.

"Vampires don't like silver," he laughed. "It's pretty damned funny, isn't it?"

"That doesn't make any sense," I lied, because it sort of did. At least in the fact that I had to remove my ring when my finger had gotten messed up and my fingertips had itched after loading the gun.

Gabe jumped to his feet, catching me off guard. I jumped back to give myself room to maneuver if he started towards me again. He was still bleeding, though it didn't look bad. He'd probably heal in no time... unfortunately.

He eyed the gun in my hand this time, since I'd proven my willingness to use it, if not my eagerness. I had my mouth half open to plead with him to stop, because I didn't want to fight, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was getting pretty sick of saying please. It hadn't done me a damned bit of good so far.

I was very tempted to hand the gun over to him. For one very frightening second, I was ready to do it. I didn't want to die, but it would certainly have made things easier. But then I may as well have just done it myself and not let him have the satisfaction. That wasn't going to happen.

I bared my teeth, feeling a little silly, but also feeling too angry to care that I probably looked like an idiot. I willed my fangs to descend. I didn't know how to make them do what I wanted yet, and I didn't feel anything. Running my tongue over my teeth probably wouldn't have helped me look any more intimidating either.

Gabe grinned, and showed me his teeth. They were definitely looking pointy, no question about it now. If he shifted, maybe I'd have time to run. Yeah... out into the afternoon sun. That'd be helpful.

Neither of us so much as twitched for a very long minute of hard staring, glaring, and teeth baring. I wasn't about to make the first move, because I could only think of one move I _could_ make.

Gabe sighed and straightened, his shoulders relaxing and his face taking on a bored expression. He turned to look at something across the room, probably the clock and my eyes following out of pure reflex. I saw him smile out of the corner of my eye. Crap.

His foot shot out and swept to the side, pulling my legs right out from under me. He was on me before I hit the floor. He swiped the gun out of my hand and it slid under the bed. I grunted, and writhed under his weight, trying to free one of my legs enough so I could knee the living hell out of his groin.

Our arms were everywhere, his hands trying to gain access to my throat, and mine trying to fend them off. I didn't think he could choke me, but he could probably break my neck. I didn't know if that would kill me, but I didn't want to find out. I elbowed him in the face and he snapped at my arm. When I ripped my arm away, his teeth left behind a small gash for me to remember him by. It didn't bleed, but it hurt like hell.

He managed to get one of his knees pressed against my stomach and when he used this perch as a center to his weight, I squealed in pain. It was distracting enough that I stopped fighting long enough for him to reach my throat. The weight came off my stomach, but he put all of it into the arm he had pressing down across my windpipe instead. I might not have needed to breath, but it was effective enough. My knees shot up, but there was no longer anywhere I could reach with them that would help me. My hands were also free, but all I could do was hold onto his arm and try to pry him off of me.

Someone started pounding on the front door.

Gabe cursed. "Police?" He looked down at me.

I couldn't breath, therefore I couldn't talk. I tried to shake my head instead, but I could barely move. He lessened the weight on my throat.

"No," I gasped. "Too quick. The security guard."

"Your apartment has security?" He frowned, "What's he going to do, throw his keys at me?"

I just glared at him.

"Come on, get up." He grabbed me by the arm, twisting it painfully as he hauled me up off the floor and dragged me along with him out of the bedroom. "Play nice or you get to be responsible for the rent-a-cop's death."

At the front door he pushed me in front of him, so his wounded leg would be hidden from view. He yanked my right arm behind my back and I heard a sickening snap in my shoulder, followed by a sharp pain that shot all the way down to my fingertips. The pain eased to a dull ache, but left my fingers tingling. I had to bite down on my lower lip to keep from crying out, more from surprise than actual pain.

Gabe opened the door and we were faced with what I'd thought. The complex's middle aged security guard stared back at us, looking harried. Whomever had complained about the gunshot had probably interrupted his afternoon nap or something. This was a pretty quiet neighborhood, and I think he was employed more as a means of making the tenants feel secure than for actual security.

I squinted at him, the sunlight making my eyes water uncomfortably. Little actual sunlight hit me, but it was bright and where it did touch me, I could already feel that pleasant prickling sensation. Unfortunately, I remembered all too well that it wouldn't remain pleasant.

The security guard looked back and forth between us. It took only a moment for him to take in my pajamas, watery eyed dopey expression, and messed up hair to dismiss me as a danger. I'd clearly just gotten out of bed. He studied Gabe only an instant longer. I twisted my head to look up at him. He had an easy smile on his face that was so open and friendly, it could have fooled anyone.

"Yes, sir?" Gabe asked. He released his painful grip on me and placed a hand on my injured shoulder. I sucked in a breath, but managed not to flinch as the weight of his hand sent a new wave of fire down my arm, which now hung uselessly at my side.

"I'm sorry to bother you folks, but one of your neighbors complained that they heard a loud crash or something coming from your apartment. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a problem." He shrugged apologetically.

Gabe chuckled, "Nah, we're good here. I thought I heard a car backfire a few minutes ago, but other than that, it's been quiet. Eryn here works nights, so she was asleep. Weren't you babe?"

"Uh huh," I smiled, gritting my teeth.

"Yeah, I figured that's all it was. Alright, you two have a good day now. And again, sorry for disturbing you." He nodded and turned to walk away.

"Thank you," Gabe called as he shut the door.

I closed my eyes against a wave of dizziness and had to lean against Gabe to keep myself upright. He stepped away and I lost my balance. When my back slammed up against something hard, I thought I'd fallen. My eyes flew open.

I was still upright. Gabe stood in front of me, holding me against the wall. I shook my head, trying to stop the room from spinning, but only succeeded in making it worse and I groaned miserably.

"Bite me," Gabe demanded.

"What?" I asked, knowing I'd misheard him.

He grabbed my uninjured arm and twisted. I gasped, waiting for it to snap or pop, or something. It hurt, but he stopped twisting before any damage was done. He pressed himself against me, and I could feel his breath fanning across my face, hot and humid.

"_Bite_ me," he said again and leaned his head to the side, exposing the side of his neck.

I just looked at him like I couldn't understand what he was asking. Or _why_ he was asking it. His nostrils flared, eyes darkening in impatience and anger like my refusal was a personal insult. He wasn't entirely wrong. I might not have known what I was doing, but the thought of drinking Gabe's blood wasn't exactly appealing either. My opinion of him was seriously damaged.

He twisted my arm again, this time until I could hear one of my joints pop. Or maybe I felt it. I couldn't tell. Nothing broken or out of place yet, but that wasn't going to be the case for long. I cried out and felt my fangs extend. My cry turned into a growl and I sunk my teeth into the flesh at the base of Gabe's neck. I bit down hard and he responded by pressing himself even more forcibly against my body, squeezing me between the wall and his body. His following groan was almost a growl, and while I couldn't see how he could possibly be enjoying himself, I felt him grow hard against my leg. I bit down harder. He panted in my ear.

I hadn't drawn any blood from him yet. At least I hadn't done so intentionally. Blood still flowed into my mouth and it was either swallow or let it run out of my mouth and down my chin. I swallowed. The harder I bit, the more the blood flowed, and once I felt the blood hit my stomach and that warmth started to spread through me, I could no longer resist. I pressed my lips against his skin and started drawing his blood out by the mouthful.

I was no longer thinking about anything when Gabe released my arm and took a handful of my hair in his fist to pull me away from his neck. I winced, but before I could protest, he replaced his neck at my mouth with his lips. His tongue snaked past my teeth and he kissed me, grinding himself against me.

I was caught too far off guard to resist. My mind was numb and slow. He wound his arms around me, one hand dipping quickly to my lower back, stopping only when his fingertips slipped beneath the waistband of my shorts. My body was reacting long before my brain could catch up, and they were not at all on the same side of the fence.

With a wet slapping sound, my shoulder slid back into place. There was no pain, but the unexpected sensation of my body healing itself served to help wake me up. My good arm was around Gabe's back, where I had a tight grip on his belt. I was no longer pressed against the wall either, because I'd been pushing my body against him, trying to get closer to him. Worse, I was returning his kiss.

I turned my head and made a sound of disgust, but Gabe didn't seem to get that I was no longer mindlessly playing along. He breathed heavily in my ear and slid his arm around, fingers still splayed against my skin beneath my waistband. When his hand reached my navel, he dipped his hand down, brushing over my belly, lower, until he slipped a finger inside me and had his thumb pressed against me. I gasped, eyes bulging.

"You are so beautiful," he breathed. "I've always thought so, but now..." He made a sound deep in his throat and slid his finger back out of me and pinched my labia. If he thought that was going to turn me on, he was very mistaken.

"Get your hands off of me," I growled, backing away until I hit the wall again. It only put a few inches between us, and his hands remained right where he wanted them.

His eyebrows rose in mock surprise, but he removed his hand from my shorts. With a dark smile, he brought his fingers to his mouth and tasted me. I gagged.

"I thought you wanted to kill me, not make me vomit." I placed my hands on his chest to keep him from closing the small space I'd gained between us.

He shrugged lightly, "What's the hurry?"

I felt a surge of something run through my body. I didn't know if it was anything as cool as vampire powers I was yet unaware of, adrenaline, or simple rage, but I straightened and stood rigid while pushing him further away. My nostrils flared, sucking a breath in and I turned slightly, bringing my leg up. Everything seemed to happen very slowly. I kicked out at Gabe, my foot hitting him square in the stomach. The smug look on his face changed to one of confusion as his arms and legs shot forward, the rest of his body moving in the opposite direction, away from me. Time caught up and he flew across the room, landing in a heap a dozen feet away from me. I was standing over him before he could pick himself up off the floor. He didn't appear hurt, but he still had the confused look on his face.

"Get out," I said very quietly, looking down at him with pure, unfiltered hatred.

He smiled, looking completely unconcerned by the fact that I'd just kicked his sorry ass across the room. Rolling his head and resettling his shoulders, he popped a muscle and stood. Brushing past me, he grinned over his shoulder at me.

"We'll continue this later. Don't want Ben to wonder where I got off to, now do we?" His eyes flashed gold, and while it would have been corny as hell in a movie, seeing it really happen in person was anything but. I'd thought it was sexy when Ben had done it. But when Gabe's eyes flashed, it just sent a chill up my spine.

As soon as he walked out the door and it clicked shut behind him, I was off down the hall and into the bedroom. I retrieved the gun from under the bed and clutched it to my chest. I sat on the floor, no idea what I should do. I couldn't leave, not with the sun shining outside. I didn't want to stay either, not when Gabe could return any second and finish what he'd started. The gun was a small comfort.

I wanted to call Ben and tell him everything, but I was terrified that Ben might not care, much less come running to my aid. I felt so utterly alone, so isolated, I expected the tears to come. They didn't. My eyes remained dry.

With a heavy sigh, I reached for my cell phone, still sitting where I'd left it on my nightstand. Shaking my head, I prepared to make a phone call I had no right to make.

- x x x -

I held the phone to my ear and listened to the dull ring until Nicky's voice mail picked up. I ended the call and dialed again, hoping that if he was screening his calls and didn't want to answer a number he didn't recognize, he might pick up if I was persistent. It worked.

"Yeah," his gruff voice answered, distorted by a lot of background noise.

"Uh, hi. This is Eryn Carter from the bar last night." I cringed at the sound of my voice. I had no idea what to say to this guy.

"Oh, hey. I don't have anything for you yet. I'll give you a call as soon as I learn anything."

"Oh no, I'm actually not calling about that. I need help. As in, I need to get the hell out of here but I'm stuck with nowhere to go. I'm really sorry for bothering you, but you're my only link to the other... you know..." I sighed, frustrated.

"Vampires?"

"Yeah," I laughed. "I still feel like rolling my eyes and snickering every time I hear that word."

"Just like a werewolf," he said and I could hear a smile in his voice, laughing at me. "So you want me to take you to them?"

"Yes, please. If you think it'd be safe for me? I can't stay at home. Ben's pack alpha was just here, going on about killing me. He left, but said he'd be back and... I don't know. I don't know what to do."

"Okay..." he paused for a few seconds and all I could do was listen to the noise in the background, loud in my ear. "But you do realize it's in the middle of the afternoon, right? Good little vampires are supposed to be sleeping right now."

"Well that would be awesome if I didn't have everyone I love wanting to _kill_ me. Can't I just throw a blanket over my head long enough to get in a car or something?"

He sighed into the phone and I cringed. I was going about this all wrong. This guy didn't know me and had no reason to help me. I wasn't going to convince him by giving him attitude.

"Okay Spike, but make sure it's not full of holes, alright? I can maybe pick you up in about an hour." He was laughing at me again, but that was better than nothing. I rolled my eyes at the Buffy joke.

"An hour?" I asked, biting my lip. I tried guess the likelihood of Gabe coming back that soon, but how could I know?

"I've got my bike, and I don't think a blanket is going to cut it for you. I need to borrow a car with tinted windows."

"Yeah, yeah, that's great. Thank you so much. I know I'm asking a lot, I just didn't know what else to do. I don't have the first clue how to find these people, or if they'll even help me. I just... thanks." I laughed nervously.

I gave him my address and directions to the apartment, then went to take a scalding shower to try and wash Gabe's scent and the memory of his touch away.


	11. Chapter 11

I'd fallen asleep on the sofa while I waited for Nicky, Ben's gun in my lap. This time I was awoken by a hand shaking my shoulder, someone saying my name. My eyes flew open, my hands seeking the Glock but coming up empty. I heard my name again and snapped my head around. Nicky stood behind me and I frowned. The gun lay a safe distance out of reach, on the coffee table. The magazine had been removed, as well as the chambered round.

"I'm sorry," I stood up, shaking my head drowsily.

"I had to pick the lock," Nicky said, then pointed to the gun. "Waking a sleeping vampire is stressful enough without them being armed."

"Sorry," I said sheepishly, but at least more awake.

He looked me up and down, until I started to feel uncomfortable. I was dressed comfortably, in case I found myself in need of more werewolf ass kicking. I wore sneakers, snug jeans that allowed me to stretch easily, and a snug fitting red t-shirt that would hide blood if for whatever reason, I got blood on it. I was proud of myself for the last part. I was starting to think like a vampire. Maybe.

"You need gloves, a hooded sweatshirt, and a scarf. Sunglasses too."

"Huh?" I gave him a confused wide-eyed stare. It was bloody hot outside. Not that I minded the heat, but I didn't get what he was talking about.

"Protection. Unless you really want to make a break for the car looking like a Halloween ghost reject?" He smiled. I was so happy I amused him. Truly.

I nodded and held up a finger to let him know I'd be just a minute, then ran to the bedroom to find everything he'd mentioned. When I'd gotten everything on, the scarf wrapped around my head and face till barely an inch of my skin was exposed, I felt like a mummy.

Nicky laughed outright when I walked back out of the bedroom. I tried to blow a raspberry at him, but only succeeded in getting a mouthful of heavily woven scarf.

He wouldn't let me take the gun with me, but as we climbed into the Crown Victoria, the windows of which were in fact, very darkly tinted, I did notice that he was carrying. As he slid into the car, the front of his jacket opened enough that I got a peek at the shoulder holster he wore.

"Are you a cop?" I asked, pulling the scarf off and shrugging out of my hoodie.

He gave me a funny look.

"Well, you look kind of like a cop. You know, one of the undercover kind." I shrugged.

He shook his head, the corners of his mouth lifting. "No, not a cop."

No more was offered on his part and I didn't want to pry. Well, I did, but I didn't want to annoy him either.

"You realize you were packing silver back there?" He asked, pulling out of the driveway and heading toward the highway.

"Yeah. Stupid me, I thought they were helpful against werewolves. But no, this werewolf just digs it out of his thigh and laughs at me." I furrowed my brow, feeling frustrated all over again about my lack of knowledge.

Nicky didn't ask for details about what had happened. I'd have told him if he had. At least I'd have told him some of it. I wanted to talk about it, but his apparent lack of interest kept me quiet.

"That's not how you kill a werewolf, but it would do quite a bit of damage to you."

"So I've heard," I muttered. "How do you kill a werewolf then?"

He frowned, but didn't glance in my direction as he drove. "My lips are sealed."

"Ah," I said, pursing my lips, but I couldn't help but smile, thinking I'd figured him out. "So that's where your loyalties lie."

He shrugged. "Nah, not exactly. My loyalties are to my family first, myself second, and then to whomever offers me the fattest paycheck."

I nodded, "But you're human, right?"

"More or less."

Intrigued, I leaned my face towards him, staring, waiting for him to elaborate.

He chuckled. "My dad was a werewolf."

"Was? Why aren't you then?"

"Was, still is, I don't know. Haven't seen him since I was a kid. My mom's human, and I didn't get the gene from dad that would make me a werewolf. Only two pure-blooded werewolves are guaranteed to have offspring that will shift. Otherwise it's all up to a toss of the genetic dice." He gestured to the glove box. "Open that up and toss me the envelope inside, will you?"

I did as he asked, getting an eyeful of the contents beside the envelope. There was a large box of .45 calibre hollow-points, a loaded clip that I assumed went to the gun Nicky was carrying, and a small box which was closed so I couldn't guess at what it contained. I handed the envelope over and shut the door. At least the bullets weren't silver.

"I need to make a few stops on the way." He said, sticking the envelope inside his jacket.

I shrugged, because it's not like I had any right to demand he take me straight to... wherever he was taking me. I didn't even know. Besides, it was kind of nice being able to relax and not have to worry about someone trying to kill me or look at me cross eyed.

I frowned, thinking over everything Nicky had said. "How come the vampires trust you, if you're part werewolf? It seems like they'd assume you'd go running off to your family or whatnot every time you heard one of them say boo."

"Didn't say they trusted me. I don't think anybody really trusts me." He pulled the car over to the side of the road and parked across the mouth of an alley, right between a coffee shop and a used bookstore. It looked like there were apartments above the shops that lined the street.

"I trust you," I said with a small smile. I didn't have any reason not to. He's been a hell of a lot nicer to me than my own friends had been and he didn't even know me.

"You shouldn't," he said, opening his door and stepping out of the car.

"I shouldn't trust you? Why not?" I laughed, but it came out sounding nervous.

"You shouldn't trust anyone. What's trust gotten you so far?" He shut the door before I could respond to that and disappeared down the alley.

"Fair enough," I muttered under my breath.

Nicky returned quickly and off we went again. He made two more stops, these without envelopes, but both at equally dark alleys. I was starting to look at him a little funny.

"Drug dealer?" I asked, completely serious, but I used a light voice in the hope that my question didn't offend him.

He chuckled and shook his head.

"Stay in the car," he said the next time we stopped, though I hadn't made a move to follow him so far.

He sighed before getting out of the car this time, which made me a little nervous. I watched him enter the alley, this time between an empty storefront with a 'For Lease' sign in the window and a Thai restaurant. Nicky paused in front of a green metal door on the vacant shop's side of the alley and knocked once, then three more times. I looked closely, expecting to see some latch slide back in the door and a pair of eyes appear. I giggled at the thought, but then the door just opened inward and Nicky stepped inside, out of sight. I sighed. This tour of St. Louis alleyways was getting boring.

I drummed my fingers on the car door, growing anxious. Trying to picture what might be going on behind that green door, my imagination worked away, then sputtered and died, completely failing me. That Nicky might be a drug dealer was still my best guess, whether he denied it or not. Not that I cared if he were doing something illegal, but I was curious.

My eyes flew back to the doorway and I was on alert before the door even opened again. Nicky came tumbling through backwards and landed on the ground. I had my car door open instantly.

"Get back in the car," Nicky pointed at me, annoyed as he picked himself up off the ground. I sat back down, hesitantly, but didn't close the door.

A large black man followed Nicky through the door, huffing and puffing, arms crossed, then uncrossed, and crossed again like he was agitated and didn't know what to do with himself. Or maybe like he didn't know if he wanted to pummel Nicky into the ground or not.

I glared at the two men. It wasn't a fair fight. Not even close. Nicky must have been outweighed by at least a hundred pounds, and this guy looked like he was all muscle. He stood his ground though and I wished I could hear what he was saying to the guy. At least it looked like the big guy was listening to him.

The black man shook his head at something Nicky said and jabbed a finger into his chest, knocking him back a few inches. The words 'bad information' drifted my way, but I could hear little else. Nicky put his hand up, palm forward, trying to tell the man something, but I didn't think the other man was listening anymore. He shoved Nicky back into the stone wall of the restaurant. I got out of the car.

I stalked towards the two men, eyes narrowed, angry, and a little drunk on the idea that I might actually be able to take this very large, muscular black man on with all my new super vampire coolness. They noticed me at about the same time, Nicky looking like he was going to yell at me, the other one still looking angry, but turning to vague confusion at seeing me.

I grabbed the man's arm, the one that was jabbing Nicky in the chest again, and yanked him backwards, away from my new friend. He stumbled backwards and I followed, giving him a hard shove. He slammed into the opposite wall from where Nicky stood, hitting his head. His brow furrowed. He looked me in the face and started laughing. I hadn't expected to be laughed at.

Nicky grabbed my arm, "I told you to wait in the damned car."

I only spared Nicky one withering glance before turning back to the other man. He'd stopped laughing, but didn't look angry anymore. His expression was amused and looked at me, appraising what he saw, then peeled his lips back over his teeth and made a noise in his throat. I stepped back, and if there was any blood in my face, I know it must have drained away and puddled in my feet. The man had fangs like mine. He laughed again at my reaction. Okay, so I was wrong about being able to take him.

"Come on Derek, leave the newbie alone." Nicky dropped my arm and stepped in front of me as if he were going to protect me from the other vampire. It was pretty funny really, seeing as how I was only standing there because I'd tried to protect _him_.

Derek shook his head, "You keep odd company Spencer. Next time get your facts straight before you come to me, or you'll need a better bodyguard, got it?"

Nicky pushed me towards the car, but I still had my eyes on Derek, who stopped halfway through the door to meet my eyes.

"Be seeing _you_, princess." He grinned, and the door shut behind him with a loud metallic clang.

"Ugh," I shuddered, but I ignored the princess comment and turned to Nicky and asked, "Spencer?"

He shrugged, "I can't have a last name?"

"No," I said, sliding back into the car. "Guys who slink around dark alleys all day only get one. Maybe a nickname if they're especially sleazy."

Nicky snickered. "One more stop."

I nodded. "So, do you get beat up by vampires often?"

"Nah," he said with a shake of his head, "he just didn't like what I had to tell him. There was nothing bad about the intel I had for him. I knew it was coming, which is why I _told_ you stay in the car."

"Sorry," I muttered.

This time we pulled into the parking lot of an auto-body shop. There wasn't a dark alley in sight. I was almost disappointed. Nicky honked the horn once, flashed his lights, then we waited. After a minute, a heavyset man in his forties, balding and wearing a track suit of all things waddled outside and up to Nicky's window. The window rolled down and the man leaned in, breathing heavy.

"Hey Nicky," he panted. "I don't got nothin' yet. I need to get over to the other shop and talk to Lincoln. He should have everything you need. I'll give you a call tonight, all right?"

"Hop in," Nicky unlocked the back door.

The man gave Nicky a shaky smile, like a ride was the last thing he wanted. But when Nicky rolled the window back up, the man's shoulders drooped and he pulled the door open and slipped into the car. I turned around in my seat to smile at him.

"Hi," I said. I wondered if he was a mobster. He kind of looked like one, though I couldn't think of a time I'd ever actually seen one.

"Don't talk to him," Nicky snapped at me and I gave him a dirty look. But after the incident with Derek, I turned back around in my seat and obeyed.

I could feel the new guy's eyes on the back of my head.

"Who's your friend, Nicky?" he asked.

"I'm babysitting," Nicky answered, voice flat. I shot him a dirty look and fought the urge to stick my tongue out at him. Or hit him.

The guy chuckled. "You one of Leo's new girls," he asked me.

I wrinkled my nose and glanced back at him, before turning to Nicky again, who looked like he was laughing.

"Did he just call me a prostitute?"

Nicky glanced behind him. "Don't talk to her."

"Sure, Nicky." The man didn't so much as glance in my direction again, instead keeping his face turned to watch out the window.

Nicky pulled up in front of another body shop, and our passenger hopped out of the car. Actually, I don't think the man was capable of hopping anywhere, but in any case, he waddled away quickly enough. Without a word, we headed west.

When we parked in front of a large, nearly windowless two-story brick building, I squinted up at it and frowned.

"Isn't that the homeless shelter?" I raised an eyebrow in question.

"Yeah," he answered, unbuckling his seat belt.

I just stared at him.

He grinned, "We're not going in there. We're going to the clinic next door."

Still, I stared. That didn't sound any better.

"I'll just be a second. There's an underground garage, but I need to pick up the key. They don't let me keep a copy, even if I have one of their cars." He shut the door on any questions I might have, and of course I did have a few.

I crossed my arms over my chest and harumphed. He jogged over to the clinic, as he'd said, and reappeared seconds later and we were on our way again. He pulled into a crowded lot behind the shelter, which Nicky explained served as a community center during the day, and towards the back of the lot, fairly well hidden was a ramp leading underground. It was gated, and Nicky had to hop out of the car to unlock it. The gate closed and locked behind us on its own accord.

The lot was blissfully dark, save for a scant few lights attached to the heavy concrete support posts which dotted the area. There were three other identical Crown Victorias in the lot, and Nicky parked between one of them and a Buell, which looked out of place. There were a couple of other cars in the lot, but there was nothing noteworthy about them.

"Your bike," I asked.

"Uh huh."

"Nice," I smiled. I hated motorcycles.


	12. Chapter 12

We made our way upstairs after entering the building through a doorway announcing itself as Private, and for Employees and Authorized Personnel Only. At the top of the stairs, we found ourselves in the middle of a sterile, hospital scented hallway, complete with institutional white walls and worn tiled floor. To our right, I could see the reception area and doors leading to the waiting room. The sounds of patients waiting for their turn drifted in through the doors and the receptionist's open window.

The middle aged woman manning the window glanced back at us, then returned to her work. Either she knew Nicky, or she figured anyone coming through these doors belonged here, thus were of no concern to her. I could see the backs of two others working with her, but neither turned our way.

Nicky put a hand to my elbow and nudged me down the hall in the opposite direction.

We passed several exam rooms, most occupied. There was nothing out of the ordinary that I could see, and I did look. Not that there was much to see.

"Why are we at a clinic?" I whispered.

"I'm donating you to science."

I stuck my tongue out at him this time, but only to cover up the fact that I was nervous. Nicky wasn't fooled.

"Come on, you'll be fine." He placed a hand on the small of my back and propelled me forward, until we came to the last door at the end of the hallway. It was unmarked and Nicky pushed the door open without knocking.

It was a lab. There were machines everywhere, large and small, none of which I could have given a name to, even had they been labeled, which they may have been for all I could tell. There were two long tables that dominated most of the room towards the center and save for a couple of doors at the opposite wall, every inch of wall space was covered in bookshelves, cabinets, work benches, posters with names of things I had no hope of pronouncing. There were no windows. It was kind of cool, so long as you weren't claustrophobic. There were lots and lots of shiny breakable things that made my fingers itch to touch them. I shoved my hands in my pockets.

My eyes fell on a little boy sitting in a swivel chair off in one corner of the room. He had his legs pulled up under him and stared at us with a sober expression. He looked to be about ten years old, nearly translucent blonde hair, big blue eyes, and looked like he could use some playtime outside rather than playing in a cold and sterile medical lab.

I liked kids and started to smile at him, ready to say hello, engage him, but his expression was so serious that the smile faded from my face and I just nodded at him. His eyes flicked to Nicky's, who nodded as well, though the recognition there was plain. The boy looked away and I followed his gaze, which fell on a woman, who was approaching us with a friendly smile.

"Hello," she greeted us, "Come in, come in."

She waved us in while she made her way around a table to meet us. She was a very pretty thirty-something, probably around the same age as Nicky and had the same blue eyes as the little boy. I assumed she was his mother. Her hair was a richer strawberry blonde, but she was every bit as pale with a smattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Her smile was contagious and I found myself smiling back.

"You must be Eryn," she took my hand and we shook. "I'm Carol Bass."

"Nice to meet you," I said politely, still clueless.

"Nicky," she greeted him warmly.

"Doc," he said.

"Well," she clasped her hands together. "Since we have you here, I should go ahead and test you."

I shot Nicky a worried look, who offered no help whatsoever. I could have kicked him.

"Don't worry," Carol's voice was more perky than soothing, "It'll just take a second."

She whirled around and crossed the room to a large steel refrigerator and started rummaging around.

"What test?" I hissed at Nicky. "I swear, I'm going to bite you for this."

He snickered and told me to relax. When I huffed at him, he just laughed. I'd probably have growled at him, but I didn't want to traumatize the little boy.

Carol returned with a small square of silver foil and one of those little lancet things doctors like to use to poke holes in your fingertips. I pulled my hands from my pockets reluctantly, my displeasure surely plain on my face.

"Do you already know your blood type? We'll do this anyway, but it's good to know. When was the last time you fed? It shouldn't matter, but it can sometimes skew the test results." Carol tore off one end of the foil packet and looked up at me expectantly.

"Uh," I blew out a breath, happy to hear the 'test' was nothing more insidious. I couldn't imagine why she'd want to know my blood type though. "Something positive maybe? Or negative. I don't know."

Carol laughed cheerfully. "That's okay, you'll find out in just a moment. And the last time you fed?" She prompted me again.

I bit my lip, uncomfortable and glanced at the little boy. There was no way he could know what we were talking about though. "A couple hours. But it was only a little bit. I think."

Carol cocked her head and gave me that expectant look again.

I shrugged, "I was hurt, so I kind of just... I wasn't completely coherent."

She smiled and nodded in sympathy. "You must be careful. You should have been sleeping a couple hours ago... still should be. We can offer you a safe place to spend the rest of the day though. I'm sure you must be very tired. And once we have your blood type, we can set you up with something to drink if you're still hungry."

Taking my hand in hers, she jabbed the end of my index finger with the lancet. Shamefully, it happened to quickly, I never saw it coming. To make myself feel better, I attributed it to the fact that yes, I was exhausted, and she was probably a vampire too.

Carol squeezed my fingertip until a drop of blood beaded. I didn't seem to want to bleed. She then removed an oddly shaped piece of paper from the foil. It was a little square with three legs pointing off in different directions, each one a different color and printed with numbers and letters that meant nothing to me. She touched the center square to the drop of blood on my finger and we all watched at it quickly traveled down the three legs. The paper reacted to the blood immediately, though what it revealed was beyond me.

Beaming brightly at me, Carol looked to be pleased with the outcome. "You are very lucky. You're AB-positive, also known as the 'universal recipient'. It means you'll never have to worry about your donor being a match. You can consume any blood type without fear of your body rejecting it. It's quite rare, really."

"I thought we could just take anyone's blood." I wrinkled my nose, imagining vampires using the pick up line of 'what's your blood type' instead of 'what's your sign'. I hadn't realized that line could get worse, but it sure had.

Carol shook her head, "No, no, the antibodies found in the blood of humans are still found in the blood of a vampire. That doesn't change when you do. They'll still attack incompatible blood. Now, it won't kill you. Say, if you were in a pinch and needed blood desperately, a mismatch would still save you. But while it would sate you and help you heal in the short run, it would make you feel sick. At least until your body burned through it. It can't nourish your body like compatible blood can. You won't have to worry about that though. And of course, any vampire can donate to another without fear of a blood type mismatch, because the blood is more potent. It's not the same though. It still lacks the nutrition of good, human blood."

"That's got to be a real pain in the ass." I muttered and she nodded in agreement.

"Not so much now with science and modern technology making it so easy to acquire what you need, but I imagine it must have been very difficult in the past. You're entering this world without the need of collecting a herd of blood vassals as you once might have. Now it's a quick trip to the clinic to pick up your evening meal, conveniently collected, processed, and packaged for your pleasure."

The shelter-slash-community center and attached clinic were making far more sense now, and while, yes, it was convenient if you were of the blood drinking persuasion, it was also a little twisted.

"So," I started, worried I'd sound too judgmental if I asked the slew of questions jumping around in my head. I decided to keep it simple. "The vampires run this whole setup so they can have easy access to blood?"

Carol pursed her lips, and didn't answer immediately. "The center and clinic are owned by a private organization that the Family controls, yes. But it truly is what it claims to be. Payment is offered for those who would donate blood. It benefits a great many people, not just the members of the Family. Only a small amount of the blood donated here goes to the Family. The vast majority is shipped off to be used as intended by hospitals and the like. It's a beautiful arrangement."

"The organized group of vampires in the area are referred to as a Family." Nicky offered and I smiled gratefully at him before nodding at Carol, because I had to suppose this setup was better than randomly noshing on a stranger's neck in some seedy bar.

"Well," Carol cleared her throat. "You're probably wanting a bed right about now. We should get you settled in for the rest of the day. We've still got a few hours of daylight to burn."

"Is it hard for you," I asked, "working during the day like this? As soon as it starts getting light out, I start getting drowsy. I think I'm running on pure adrenaline right now."

Carol exchanged an amused look with Nicky. I was starting to get used to feeling like people were laughing at me.

"I'm not a vampire," she said shaking her head. "I have O-negative blood."

"I have no idea what that means," I said.

"It's kind of the opposite of yours. Where you can take any blood, I can give to any. But I can only take my own type. There are no O-negative vampires out there, thus I can't be turned. If the attempt was made to turn me, I would likely die. At the very least, it would make me quite ill."

"I'm sorry," I said lamely, not knowing how else to respond.

She nodded, sad, but still smiling. She glanced over at the little boy who still sat in his corner and sighed. I'd completely forgotten about the child and felt a bit horrified that he'd probably overheard every word that had been said. But he just watched us, face blank. Save for the blink of his eyes, he was perfectly still.

"How did you hurt yourself?"

I frowned at Carol's question. "Pardon?"

"You said you were hurt earlier. What happened?"

I shoved my hands back in my pockets, ready to shrug her question off and claim it was nothing when I felt a nudge at the base of my skull. I don't know how else to describe it, but it almost felt like someone were brushing their fingers across the inside of my head. A chill ran up my spine and I suddenly felt the very strong desire to tell this woman everything. And I did. I left nothing out. When I was finished, I wrapped my arms around myself and grimaced. I felt a little sick. The nudge I'd felt, that strange pressure at the back of my mind released. When it did, I turned toward the corner where the little boy sat. He was gone. I shivered.

Nicky made a disgusted sound and Carol patted my arm. I was too embarrassed to say anything more.

Carol crossed the room, beckoning me to follow. Nicky stuck close behind me, until we all stood before one of the steel cabinets that lined the wall. Reaching out and pressing something at the side of the cabinet, the thing swung away from the wall with a click. She tucked her fingers in the inch wide opening now between the cabinet and the wall, and pulled it forward, swinging it out of the way and revealing a hidden door.

"Sweet secret passageway," I grinned.

Carol laughed, delighted by my wide-eyed excitement. Hey, secret doorways are cool.

"Not so secret really. There was a public bid for the construction. It's all in the public records should anyone look." She placed her thumb over a print scanner, and a green light flashed with a soft beep. That was followed by entering a code, which I didn't get to see since Carol maneuvered her body in front of the keypad. Wish a hiss, the door slid open, revealing an unlit hallway that gave the impression of a tunnel. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all smooth concrete, or what little I could see in the darkness was. It sloped downwards so that after a fairly short distance, it would be underground.

The longer I stared down the passageway, the tighter my chest felt. I had never been prone to claustrophobia, but this might have made anyone feel anxious. There was no light, no nothing. Just bare concrete. I was sure that wasn't truly the case, seeing as I could only make out the first dozen or so feet, but that's how it looked.

Carol gave me a concerned look, having watched my face go from awed to nervous to downright freaked out. "Are you all right? There are motion detectors along the ceiling every fifteen feet. As you make your way down the corridor, you'll trigger them and the lights will turn on, illuminating your path. It was the only way to do it really. The passage is a quarter mile long, but no worries, you needn't go so far. There's a room just around the bend. You can sleep there."

I gave her a look that clearly said what I was thinking. Hell no.

"Nicky, will you escort her please," she asked him before patting me on the arm again.

"Yup," he took my elbow and gave me a little tug. "Come on, dead girl. Let's get you tucked in."

As soon as Nicky took a step into the passage, a light came on about fifteen feet down the hall. It was dim, but it lit up the twenty feet of hallway that was visible before it turned to the right. It reminded me of another set of hallways I'd been trapped in, minus the downhill slope..

I shook my head and took a step back and Nicky's hand tightened on my elbow. I met his look of confusion with one of pure, unfiltered panic. I paired it up with a hearty growl. His eyes widened slightly, but he took a step closer to me.

He turned to Carol, hand still on my elbow. "Hey doc, how about an exam room instead?"

- x x x -

I sat on the examination table, legs pulled up and crossed, a threadbare blanket resting in my lap. I felt a little guilty taking up temporary residence in an exam room that was likely in high demand, but I couldn't face the fear that hallway had unburied.

Carol had asked Nicky get me settled in, and he'd kindly done so. Now he stood at the door, ready to leave me there. I knew I had no right to monopolize more of his time, but I was dreading having him go.

"You'll be fine," he said.

I shrugged my head bowed, hair hiding my face, "I'm sorry I grr'ed at you."

He laughed, his smile genuine and amused. "That's okay, you're not very scary."

I picked up the paper wrapped pillow from the end of the table and aimed it for his head, then let it fly. He caught it and tossed it back.

"So, what's up with all the vampires being awake during the day? That was what..." I narrowed my eyes. "Two of them?"

"You suck at math. Counting you, I remember seeing three."

I gasped, "So I'm right about that little boy? He's just a baby!" My mouth dropped open and I curled my lip in horror.

"Yup, that was Adam."

"That's awful. Who would do that to a kid?"

Nicky shrugged. "Dunno, never had a conversation with him to find out and nobody ever talks much about him. I see him here all the time though. He likes to hang with the good doctor. But he's hardly a kid. He might look like one, but I'd be willing to wager he's a hell of a lot older than either of us. Just going by the fact that nobody wants to discuss him, I'd say he's probably a good deal older than most of the other vamps in town."

"Creepy," I said. "Umm..."

He waited patiently for my next question, still looking a little amused.

I chewed my lip. "Can vampires get into your head and kind of... make you say things?"

"Like a puppet?"

"No, not like that. Though that's another good question I guess. But, when Dr. Bass asked me how I got hurt, I wasn't going to tell her anything. I sure as hell didn't want to tell her _everything_. That was... unpleasant." I gritted my teeth, and while I spoke I started to feel my anger rise. "I don't even want Ben to know about that."

"Well, that's up to you. As for Adam, he was probably just feeling you out. I'd probably have been more concerned if he'd totally ignored you. At least if he's curious, it bodes well for you. No reason to be curious about someone you're just going to kill, right?"

My eyes widened in alarm and I jumped down from the exam table. "Kill? It's not bad enough I have werewolves wanting me dead, I have to worry about vampires too? Who _doesn't_ want to kill me? I haven't done a damned thing to anyone!"

Nicky crossed his arms and pressed his lips together. "Look, you've got to try and see it from their point of view. Vamps are pretty tight. They don't like outsiders. Here you are, turned in their territory without their consent. You're a rogue, and therefore a danger to them. You have no mentor to keep you in line. They'd have been all over you by now if they didn't know you had a pack of wolves swarming around you."

"I'm really starting to dislike werewolves." I said flatly.

"That was quick. You shouldn't judge them all by a couple of bad apples though. They're not all asses. But yeah... that's not right, what that guy did to you."

"Gabe," I said sourly.

"Yeah... he does sound like an ass. You should talk to your boyfriend."

I shook my head, "They're best friends. And Gabe's supposed to be his alpha or whatever. So, that's a discussion I don't want to deal with. And Ben doesn't want to deal with me at all."

"You should talk to that friend of mine I told you about. Both of you. Maybe they can help. I can give him a call."

I leaned back and relaxed just the tiniest bit. It was something, what he was offering. Maybe not much, but it was more than I had. Maybe it would knock some sense into Ben to see there were other people that were managing to deal with their... differences.

"I'd appreciate that, thank you." I tried to smile.

He stepped forward and brushed a lock of hair from my face and I flinched. His fingertips left a warm tingle where his hand had touched me.

"Sorry," he stepped back. "That was driving me nuts."

I chuckled nervously, embarrassed.

"Back to work," he winked, "I'll see you later kid."

He pulled the door open and I sucked in a breath.

"Nicky?"

"Yeah?" He looked over his shoulder at me.

"Thanks for everything."


	13. Chapter 13

For as cold and uncomfortable as the room's exam table was, I fell asleep without trouble and for a blessed few hours I was able to stay asleep, completely undisturbed. It was sometime after sunset that I was woken up, though I wasn't sure how I knew the sun had gone down. I wasn't anywhere near a window to see, but I knew all the same.

"Nicky's on the phone for you," Carol beamed, still buoyant. I wondered if her happiness was a chronic condition. Happy people are annoying when you can't summon the emotions to join them. "You can take it in my office."

Carol's office turned out to be through one of the doors in the lab. As I passed through the room, I took a quick look around for Adam, but didn't see him. I was both relieved and disappointed.

"I'll give you some privacy," Carol closed the door to her office, waiting in the lab while I found myself standing alone in a closet sized room. A decently sized walk-in closet mind you, but closet sized all the same. There was little room for much beyond her desk and a padded chair in the corner, much like the ones I imaged you'd find in the waiting room of the clinic.

I took a seat at her desk and picked up the phone.

"Nicky?" I asked.

"Hey," he answered and guessing by the background noise I figured he was on his bike again. I held the phone slightly away from my ear to help cushion against the roar of the motorcycle's engine. "Got a hold of my friend up the river. His name's Mike Karrde, lives in Riverton, Illinois. You know it?"

"Of course," I said. "I've been up that way a few times." Riverton was by no means a big city, but it was surrounded by... not much of anything. It had once upon a time been a major hub though, and it was a good stopping point when traveling.

"Good. Him and his wife are willing to meet with you and yours tonight. I want to remind you of what I said about his wife though. Seriously. She might be a vampire, but she's... I don't know. All kinds of crazy aside, don't let her freak you out too much. Don't go and meet this woman and expect all the vamps around here to be just like her. You'll see what I mean."

"You're just freaking me out. I thought you said you'd never met her?"

"No, but I hear things and she's got a reputation for getting into trouble. The Master of the Family up there coddles her, because she brings resources to his table he can't easily get without her. She's young, and from what I understand people either really like her or they want to get the hell away from her. I don't know much else, but I thought I should give you fair warning."

"Gee, thanks."

He chuckled, "Don't mention it."

"Now I just have to convince Ben." I chewed my lip.

"Already done, dead girl. I called your cell... which it would seem you left at home before we left for our excursion."

"Ahh yes, your tour of dubious contacts." I said and he chuckled again. "Ben answered my phone, huh?"

"Yeah. I told him about Karrde and he's willing to go up there with you. If he could find you."

I sucked in a breath.

"I don't know what you want to tell him, but I didn't say anything."

"Shit," I signed. "I have no idea what I want to tell him either. Wish you'd have let me take the Glock."

"Yeah, I'm a bastard."

I grunted in agreement and while I couldn't hear any response, I knew he was smiling.

Nicky gave me his friend's address, directions to his house, and reminded me again to take it easy and not get freaked out. Fat chance of that; I was already freaked out. We said our goodbyes and I headed back out of Carol's office and met up with her again in the lab.

"Everything all right?" She asked me, bending over a tray of petri dishes.

"Remains to be seen I guess," I glanced around the room again. "Your shadow isn't here?"

"Hmm?" She cocked her head and gave me a confused look, before smiling again. "Oh, you mean Adam? He had things to attend to."

"Nicky said he was one of them... I wasn't sure if I believed it." I stared in the direction the little boy had sat at a few hours ago.

"Oh yes, but you're one of them too now, aren't you?" She raised her eyebrows at me.

"Doesn't feel that way. And now Nicky's got me scared to death of meeting up with them." I wrapped my arms around myself and offered her a crooked smile. "Vampirism has turned me into a total coward."

Carol shook her head and laughed. "I wouldn't worry. They know you're here and they haven't swarmed the place looking to cut you down. You wouldn't be here if they hadn't allowed it."

It was my turn to raise my eyebrows. Obviously Adam knew I was here, but I didn't know anyone else did.

Carol blinked back at me. "Nicky had to have permission to bring you. Or rather I suppose I needed it so I could tell him to bring you. It was Adam who permitted it."

"Huh." It was the best response I could come up with.

I thanked her and she walked me out, locking the door behind her. It was nearly ten o'clock already and the clinic had been closed for a couple of hours. I felt a little guilty that Carol had had to stay late in order to let me sleep, and I let her know I appreciated it.

"I'm happy to help," she waved off my thanks. "If you need anything, you're always welcome. And our refrigerator is always full."

I grinned, thanked her again and we parted ways; her to her car and me down the sidewalk headed in the opposite direction to find a payphone.

- x x x -

Two hours later, I sat in Ben's car, eyes on his hands as we sped northbound along the US-61. He clenched the steering wheel so tightly, I worried for its ability to hold up under the pressure.

"I said I was sorry," It was probably the tenth time I'd said it since he'd picked me up down the street from the clinic.

"It was stupid Eryn. What the hell were you thinking?" A muscle twitched in his jaw and I wondered if I should worry about him breaking his teeth too with the way he was grinding them.

"I know," I said, repeating everything we'd both already said. "I got scared. I wasn't thinking."

He shook his head. "You should have called me. If I'd gotten there right away, I might have been able to tell who it was."

I sighed. I hadn't been able to think of a good cover story, so I'd told Ben the truth. Sort of.

Ben laughed, but it was cold and angry. "A strange wolf comes into our home, threatens you, lets you shoot him, then takes off. And you call a stranger to come pick you up? In the middle of the day? Brilliant, Eryn. Absofucking brilliant."

"He didn't let me shoot him. Christ Ben, give me some credit. You've dragged me down to the range twice a month for over a year. I know how to use the damned thing." I crossed my arms and stared straight away, tapping my foot angrily.

"Where'd you find a key to unlock my gun case, anyway?" He glanced over at me, cheek twitching again. He looked wary enough that I almost smiled in satisfaction.

I turned so that I was looking right into his eyes. "It wasn't locked," I lied.

He relaxed infinitesimally. It was enough to grate on my nerves, but I would never admit to finding that ring.

We both stewed for a few more miles, and when I saw his shoulders slump, I turned to look at him again. He looked defeated.

"I got scared." He said, as though he was admitting some awful secret. When I only kept staring, he continued. "When you weren't there, it was like you had disappeared all over again."

I sighed. "You can't protect me Ben. You can barely stand to be near me. Frankly, I don't understand why you're so angry. Someone tried to do what you haven't been able to, right? One of your friends tried to take me out. You should be relieved that someone else wants to take the responsibility off your shoulders."

The look of pure fury evident in his face when he took his eyes off the road to skewer me with his gaze was nearly enough to make me cower against my seat. With a strength of will I didn't know I had, I forced my back straight and returned the look with one lacking any emotion whatsoever, or so I hoped. He looked away before I did, and while I would have liked to attribute it to my refusal to back down, he probably just didn't want to crash the car.

- x x x -

Twenty minutes later, the hostility in the car remained a tangible thing and it didn't even begin to dissipate before Ben pulled up in front of an upper-middle class home on a quiet street in Riverton. We sat there for a few silent minutes, staring over at the house, preparing ourselves to witness something neither of us were the least bit convinced we could ever emulate. A vampire and a werewolf... happily married. I wondered if the property values in the neighborhood would plummet if their neighbors knew what was living amongst them.

"They love you too, you know." Ben said matter-of-factly, unemotionally.

"What?" I frowned at him, no idea what he was talking about.

"Our friends."

I snorted. If he only knew. And with that, I stepped out of the car and squared my shoulders, ready to face whatever was to come.

Ben followed suit, and as my resolve began to crumble and cowardice crept it's way into my heart, he overtook me on the walkway up to the house tripping the security lights as he went.

It was a really nice house. I never knew much about architecture, so I couldn't name the style, but it looked old. Not worn and dilapidated old, but fancier than they make things now kind of old. The yard was tidy and manicured, and while the curtains were drawn over all the windows, you could see the house was alight behind them. It was inviting. I didn't expect inviting, not when I knew what dwelled there.

There was also a newer model dark green BMW in the driveway. I had to wonder which of the owners brought the money to the table. Nicky had mentioned the vampire was young, but vampires always seemed to have loads of cash in the movies and such. The werewolves I knew were far from loaded.

"Come on Eryn, you're the one who wanted to do this." Ben called from the porch before he knocked at the door. A security camera blinked at us and I wondered if it was real, or just for show. I took a glance around to see if I could spot others, but if they were there, they were well hidden.

I forced myself up the walkway and was just stepping onto the welcome mat beside Ben when the door opened. My stomach knotted.

The man who answered was either in his late twenties or early thirties; which was a lot younger than I'd have guessed since he was supposed to be retired from whatever it was werewolves were supposed to do, and he now made his living behind a desk. He was a couple of inches shorter than Ben, but better built, making Ben look smaller than he was. He wore a pressed dress shirt with jeans; business casual maybe? He was handsome, almost ruggedly so with short, dark brown hair and pale blue eyes which regarded us shrewdly without being outright unfriendly. Prior knowledge aside, there was not a doubt in my mind that this was a werewolf. He practically dripped with the promise of power. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but I knew it was true. It radiated outward from him in waves. This was a powerful man; a powerful werewolf. I did not want to screw with him.

I wondered vaguely, were all the female werewolves here hiding.

I took a step back, but Ben didn't seem affected the way I was. He met the man's eyes and extended his hand in greeting.

"Sir, I'm Ben Highcliff. This is Eryn Carter." The two men shook hands as they appraised one another. For some reason Ben looked like he was trying to make himself shorter, posture a little slumped. Maybe he wasn't as unaffected as I'd thought.

"Mike Karrde," the man said, and smiled lightly; not overly friendly but enough to put us at ease. He offered me his hand and I hesitated an awkward second before I reached mine out and we shook our greetings.

"We appreciate your seeing us," Ben shoved his hands in his pockets, then pulled them out again, fidgeting. It just made me more nervous. I chewed my lip.

"Sure," Mike moved to the side, allowing us entrance into his home. "Alyx is curious to meet you both."

"Your wife?" Ben asked.

Mike nodded, but had not missed the distaste in Ben's voice. "You're welcome in my home, but please remember that this is also my wife's home. I expect you to be respectful."

"Hey, no worries." Ben held up his hands. Mike nodded again, and with that, we stepped past Mike and into the house.

The house was warm and bright inside with an inviting lived-in feel. It was tidy, but hardly immaculate. It was all very _normal._

From the entryway, Mike led us through an open archway to our right and into the living room. In the center of the floor, a girl sat with her legs pulled up against her chest and she had her head down on her knees, facing away from us. Long, pale blonde hair obscured most of her face as she lifted her head and turned to regard us.

My immediate impression was to worry that they had some poor teenaged girl being held against her will. Wide, childlike eyes of dark blue met mine, then flicked over to Ben before they narrowed. With a graceful, fluid movement, she rose to her feet and I knew I'd misjudged what I'd seen. The girl, older than I'd first guessed, turned her gaze to Mike and she swept towards him.

This had to be Alyxandra, vampire, and the wife of a werewolf. Now that I'd had a much better look at her, I adjusted my estimate of her age to be between eighteen and twenty. At least that's how old she would have been when she'd been turned. I had no idea how long she'd been a vampire. She was dressed in a snug fitting dark blue blouse – probably silk, equally snug black leather pants – which I found cliché on a vampire, and... pale green bunny slippers that had seen better days. All in all, she made me think of a bad movie about blonde bimbo sorority sisters turned vampires.

Ben, however, seemed to be appreciating the view. That was, until the girl grinned, showing a bit of fang. Ben's appreciative smile wiped off his face, his expression turned solemn.

The odd couple exchanged a look that couldn't be described any way other than affectionate, and when he gently touched his hand to the small of her back, her grin turned lazy and her eyes hooded.

"My wife, Alyx." Mike said to us before turning his attention back to his wife, "Our guests, Eryn and Ben."

Then she turned toward me, lifted her head and gave me a look every bit as solemn as Ben's.

"Play nice," I heard Mike whisper to his wife, and the flat look she kept while staring at me wavered for a moment before snapping back into place.

"Sit," she said and gestured to the sofa.

Her command, and there was no denying that it was an order and not a suggestion, was directed solely at me. I crossed the room and sat. She followed and took a seat directly before me atop the coffee table. Her knees brushed mine, and I sat back in an attempt to preserve some personal space.

Mike led Ben toward the living room's other exit, another archway leading into a well-appointed dining room. They halted just inside the other room and stood close, talking quietly enough that I couldn't hear them.

I wrung my hands, discomforted by the girl's intense stare. She sat statue still, eyes boring into my skull and my body twitched as a chill ran up my spine. I needed to break the silence before she drove me insane with her staring.

"I was told you-" I started, but she cut me off with an irritated intake of breath through her teeth.

"Be still," she demanded, "I'm trying to listen."

Her eyebrows pinched as she concentrated on something, eyes always on my face. I crossed my arms over my chest defensively and glared back. I didn't know what she thought she was trying to listen to, I certainly wasn't saying anything.

And then I felt it. A familiar nudge at the base of my skull. My eyes narrowed at her accusingly and she smiled back, head tipped forward so that she had to look up to keep her eyes on me. I swallowed nervously. With another nudge, everything around me vanished and I was in another place.

I sat on a worn leather sofa, the only piece of furniture in a cold, white walled office. The low pile blue carpet was littered with scraps of paper, the little circles left behind from a hole punch, and two empty cardboard boxes sat in a corner.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, I stood and smoothed my clothes nervously. They were coming; the two who had hurt me. I wanted to run to the door, slam it shut, bar it somehow, and scream for help. There was no one there to help me though, I knew. I stood frozen, my feet refusing to move, refusing to obey.

I struggled within myself, trying to break free. I thrashed violently, or so it seemed, but my body remained still. There was a sound of frustration near me and an increase in pressure around my head. Everything went black.

I opened my eyes and found two dark pools of blue staring back at me. I growled, and there was movement to my right. My eyes flicked to follow the movement and I found Mike and Ben watching, Mike's expression one of calm, Ben's one of confusion mixed with concern. Mike's hand went to Ben's shoulder, drawing his attention away. My eyes went back to the girl sitting before me. She pressed her lips together and leaned closer towards me. With another nudge at the back of my head, far more aggressive this time, I felt myself detach from myself. A look of satisfaction now on Alyxandra's face, I felt myself floating, as though I were no longer a part of myself.

I sucked in a breath and my body obeyed, my lungs filling, but I couldn't feel it. I couldn't feel anything; at least not physically. I could see the scene begin again, me standing in that office, waiting for _them_. I could no longer feel any fear though. It was like watching a movie; someone else on the screen. My attention drifted. I'd seen this movie before and I didn't care to see it again. I let my consciousness wander and then focus on the two men.

Mike was shaking his head at Ben, totally unconcerned by his wife and I in the other room.

"I'm not sure I understand what it is you think we can do for you. But Nicky's a good friend and if he gave you my name, then the least I can do is hear you out." He said to Ben.

Ben sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "To put it plainly, I want to track down the bloodsuckers that murdered my girlfriend. We have very little to go on, and I need help. She has their first names, their descriptions, but not a whole hell of a lot more."

My heart constricted in pain, hearing Ben say I'd been murdered. I was still here. I wasn't dead; not really. I couldn't understand why he couldn't see that. But the pain faded quickly, feeling more like it belonged to someone else; someone else's body. The momentary return of feeling was enough to draw my attention back to myself, with Alyxandra still focused on me. I saw the movie playing out, a helpless girl being broken.

I watched the scenes play out for a while, and I grew angry, a slow fire building within me. But my anger wasn't for the two hurting the girl in the movie. It was for the girl who made the scenes play out. I heard myself whimper and I struck out at her, trying to put a stop to the memories playing out.

Alyxandra gave no sign that she'd been slapped, but I could see a patch of pink appear on her cheek. I watched it fade away. The movie continued to play, the scenes coming faster. Gabe's face flashed before me and I flinched. The girl leaned ever closer, the tip of her tongue showing between her lips, interest sparked in her eyes. I pulled away again. I didn't want to think about Gabe.

Startled by the unexpected sound of my striking Alyxandra, Ben and Mike turned to look at us. Ben's lip curled, glaring at me and he took a step towards us. Mike's arm whipped out to stop him.

"Let them talk it out."

"They're not saying anything." Ben shot Mike an incredulous look.

Mike shrugged, "More than you'd think, I'm sure."

"How do you do it?"

Mike turned back to Ben, clearly not catching his meaning.

"At least tell me she was human when you met her?" Ben looked a little sick to his stomach.

"Ahh..." Mike smiled. "Nah, she was the same insane little leech when I married her fourteen years ago. My first wife was a vamp too."

"You got a real messed up fetish there." Ben said seriously.

I snickered, and then flinched, startled when my body actually did snicker in response to what I'd thought was only in my head. Nobody took any notice.

Mike chuckled at the sickened expression on Ben's face.

"It's a long story." He said. "And I guess I never had a proper hatred for vampires instilled in me growing up."

"Think I'd like to hear that story." Ben told him.

"Didn't say it was an interesting story."

Alyxandra stood suddenly, and turned to face the two men. The motion got their attention and they turned to look at her.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to help you," she said to Ben.

"Won't babe, or can't?" Mike asked her.

She shrugged, her mouth petulant. "Don't want to."

"Why?" Ben growled, "Because they're vampires? You want to protect them?"

Mike grabbed his shoulder and gave him a warning glance.

"No," Alyxandra looked confused. "They don't mean anything to me."

She sat on the couch beside me and I scooted away from her.

"I just don't like them, Puppy" She told Mike. "Especially this one over here. I mean, please! It's like getting a shiny new sports car for Christmas and throwing a tantrum because you wanted a rusty old beater instead. The little pack rat doesn't want to throw out her old newspapers to make room for all the pretty new baubles waiting to take their place."

"Are you nuts? What the hell are you talking about?" Ben glared at the girl, and looked to Mike for some clarification. I gave him a similar look, sliding off the couch to put more distance between us.

Mike shrugged, but he was probably used to this sort of thing. "Explain, babe?"

Alyxandra rolled her eyes. "Poor little Eryn, feeling so sad. Her puppy doesn't like her anymore, and she's not even a real vampire yet. She's ready to roll over and let the worms and beetles have their way. She doesn't appreciate all the new toys Constance and Tobias have given her. It's very naughty of her, to be so ungrateful. If she were mine, I'd make all her dreams come true. She'd be pushing up the daisies, push push!"

I frowned, staring at Alyxandra as she giggled and licked her lips.

"His name was Jonas," I said and everyone turned their attention to me. "She said Constance and Tobias. But his name was Jonas."

"Nuh uh," Alyxandra grinned. "Connie wanted to play a game, so she gave him a new name but Toby didn't want to play. Connie's a fun one, but Toby is all business. Bet they're not happy with you two right now. You're not playing the game. Don't you know the rules?"

When nobody responded, she snorted and turned to Ben. "You were supposed to kill her, but you didn't follow their script. Kill the girl, then attack the wasp's nest. Wasps get angry and attack the stick that poked them. The puppies get stung and when there's nothing left but a lot of twitching pieces, _they_ step in and clean up their new home."

"I get it," I said, and met Ben's eyes. "Constance and Jonas turn me, you and your pack take it as a personal attack. You attack in kind and take out the local vamps, and maybe they take some of you out in the process. Then when everyone's dead, they move in and claim the territory. Right?"

Alyxandra spun around and hissed at me, fangs bared. She had the picture perfect movie representation of a pissed off vampiress down pat. "That's what I _said_," she screeched.

I glared back at her, unimpressed. "Really? Hissing?"

She shrugged at me and smiled.

"What did you mean by I'm not a real vampire yet?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fangs and a taste for blood don't make you a vampire. They just make you better. But don't worry, you'll figure it out."

I was ready to press her for more, but Ben's growl caught our attention.

Ben glared at Mike. "How does she know any of this? Is she just making crap up as she goes?"

"Son, there's a lot about vampires you don't know." Mike said with a shake of his head.

"She was rummaging around in my head," I said. "She plucked out everything that happened. I didn't know vampires could do that."

"_I_ can do that," Alyxandra giggled. "See what I mean? Stupid little girl, she doesn't know anything. I don't think she wants to learn. She needs to get rid of _him_."

The girl pointed a finger at Ben and cocked her head to the side.

"Only thing about her old life she'd really miss is the sun," she continued. "Likes the warm feel on her skin, bathing herself in it. But she'd get over it. But _he_ has her confused. She's so stuck on wanting to please him. But nothing's going to please him. Let him go. He's not the only guy out there with a dick. He is a dick. Find another dick. It's not hard. Flaccid asshole. Something stuck up there. He doesn't know what he wants. Kill her, not kill her. He needs to make up his mind."

The girl turned and gave me a wicked smile. "I like the other puppy. He knows what he wants. Likes you, doesn't he?" She ran her hands down her body and bit her lip. "Did he make you feel good? He offered you what this one won't give. Naughty, naughty. He's a lot of fun, that one. The neutered puppy has his charms too. Can't forget him. So many dogs sniffing at your door, you bad girl."

Ben and I exchanged a confused glance and I shrugged.

Mike took his wife's face in his hands and made her look at him. "Hon, please."

Alyxandra made an annoyed sound and flashed her teeth, but seemed to concentrate.

"Okay... he couldn't bring himself to kill her after she got turned. So he says he'll kill her afterward. You know, after he gets revenge. Whatever. That's the plan anyway. It remains to be seen if he's got the balls to do it. She knows this, and is willing to let him do it, just so she doesn't have to see that look in his eyes anymore." Alyxandra smiled, pleased with herself. "I don't really care to help them. I'd have more fun smacking the shit out of her. She needs some sense knocked into her. But I'll behave myself. As for Benji, I wouldn't have a problem with him if he weren't so weak kneed. That one has even less of a backbone than she does. I'll bet he's never killed anything bigger than a cockroach. Disgraceful, isn't he Puppy? You would kill me, wouldn't you? If I did something _really_ naughty?"

Mike sighed, then winked at his wife. "If I had to babe."

"That's love," she giggled and grinned at her husband.

"This is a waste of time," Ben growled and stalked over to me. I flinched when he grabbed my arm.

"Wait," I said and waited for Alyxandra to give me her attention again. "Constance and Jonas. Or Tobias, whatever. Do you know them?"

"Tobias," she groaned, and I got the impression she was bored with us now and wanted to move on. "I don't know them, never heard of them, never seen them before. And I don't care to."

"I'm sorry, kid." Mike said to Ben. "I think that's all you're going to get. Our connections run in different circles."

"Make them go away now," Alyxandra said to her husband, pushing her body against him, ignoring Ben and I. "Please Puppy? I want to play cowboy in the snake hole."

Mike gave his wife a look usually reserved for parents after their children had innocently dropped the f-bomb in the middle of church. She blinked up at him, and he sighed before returning his attention to us. I had the feeling he was well practiced at being a patient man.

"If she says these two are trying to start a war between the local elements, I'd take her at her word. She's usually right."


	14. Chapter 14

The car ride back home started off quietly, each of us preoccupied with our own thoughts. I was actually beginning to feel better about things when Ben had to ruin it.

"What did she mean by 'the other puppy'?"

I glanced over at him and sighed when I saw his hands were torturing the steering wheel again. "I don't know Ben. She was a few fries shy of a happy meal, you know?"

"Yeah, but she hit on something. I saw the look on your face when she said it. You knew exactly what she was talking about." He turned his attention away from the road long enough to pin me with an accusatory stare full of suspicion. "Who gave you what I wouldn't?"

"I think she said offered, not gave." I turned away so I was looking out my window instead of at him. "Why does it matter? You couldn't possibly be jealous, could you?"

I felt his eyes on the back of my head and heard him growl. I smiled.

"You can't have it both ways Ben." I rolled down the window to let in some fresh air. "You don't want me anymore. You have no right to be jealous if there's someone that does."

"Who," he roared at me and I found myself flinching again.

Stunned by his outburst, I turned to look at him. I tried to keep any fear out of my eyes, to keep my voice steady. "I never cheated on you Ben. Never."

"No? But he made you feel good? Huh?"

"Hardly," I said. I cringed as soon as the word escaped my lips. Ben jumped all over it.

"Who, Eryn?" He slammed a fist against the steering wheel and the car jerked to the left. Fortunately, there was very little traffic on the road. "You owe me a name."

I gaped at him. "I owe you? Fuck you Ben! Fuck you! I don't owe you a goddamned thing! You've thrown me away. Why the hell did you ever want to marry me anyway?" I smiled in satisfaction when his shoulders tightened. "Yeah, I saw the ring. Thank God you never got the chance to put it on my finger. That girl back there was right. You're weak. You act like your life has been ruined, but this didn't happen to you. It happened to me. I'm the one whose life has been ripped apart. Not you, Ben. I'm sick of watching you turn away from me, feeling sorry for yourself, feeling guilty because you don't know how to deal with me anymore. I'm going to make it real easy for you asshole. It's over. It was over the second those two bastards walked into that office. I guess the joke was on them after all though, because they misjudged you, didn't they? You haven't got the balls to do what they wanted."

I felt liberated and had to fight to keep the corners of my mouth from twitching up into another grin. I also had to fight to keep from vomiting in my lap.

Ben's fist clenched against the steering wheel and his eyes glittered in anger. His mouth was twisted, like he'd just tasted something foul. When his fist twitched, I gave up my own growl.

"You're not going to hit me, Ben." I stated, my voice flat.

"Don't insult me, Eryn. I would never hit you," he spat.

"No, you won't." I was surprised by how thickly threatening my voice was.

"Are you done?" He asked, still angry, but his voice fairly calm and smooth.

"For the moment."

"Good." He said, and took a loud, deep breath. His shoulders relaxed and he looked relieved. Whether by the fact that I'd broken up with him, or because I was done cursing at him, I couldn't tell. I really hoped it was the latter, and hated myself for caring.

He pulled the car over to the side of the highway and put the car into park. I kept my eyes on him, wary, and prepared to put up one hell of a fight if he intended to pitch me out of the car. He sat there for one agonizingly long minute, hands on the steering wheel, eyes straight ahead, just breathing. I nearly shrank away from him when he finally lowered her hands and turned to me. But, while he still looked angry, he no longer looked like he wanted to rip someone's arm off. His eyes, however, were bright gold.

He studied my face for a moment, frowning. "What's so funny?" He asked.

I hadn't realized I'd started smiling. The corners of my mouth turned back down. "I'm just surprised I never managed to piss you off enough to turn your eyes gold before I grew fangs."

He shook his head. "It's not you I'm mad at. And you're right, you don't owe me anything. But I do love you, Eryn. I want to make sure you know that. But you have to understand that I was raised to hate what you've become. Vampires and werewolves have been enemies for as long as history recalls. Our kinds have always slaughtered each other, with or without reason. It's not you I hate; it's what you are. You can't expect me to change the way I'm wired. This is what I am, and that is what you are."

"Funny how none of that makes me feel any better." I said.

"No," he said, "I don't think there's anything I can say that will make it easier. I'm not going to try. But you need to hear this. It's not that uncommon for people associated with werewolves to be turned by vampires. I think it happens because those people know that the vampires are out there, and can recognize them for what they are because they know what signs to look for. It makes them stand out. And sadly, some of them seek vampires out because they feel ripped off. Maybe they have a sibling who's a wolf, and they're not content with not having that power, so they try to get it somewhere else. It shouldn't happen. But when it does, the kindest thing that person's family can do is destroy them. It's what I was expected to do."

Speech over, Ben kept his eyes on me. If he expected a response from me, I didn't know what it was he expected me to do or say. If he expected me to thank him for sparing my life, he was going to be waiting for a while. It wasn't enough. I was pretty sure I could forgive him for his behavior... someday. But I wasn't going to be grateful. I might not have put up a fight if he'd killed me that first night, but not now. I was determined not to feel sorry for myself anymore. Alyxandra was right about that too. It was time I accepted what had happened to me and make the most of it. That meant moving on.

"You don't have it in you to do it," I said. "You might be an ass, but you're not a murderer."

His smile was sad. "No, Eryn. I have it in me. I can kill. Everyone has that in them, to some degree. Everyone is capable of it. But you're still you, and I can't destroy you. But so help me, if you ever do change... if you ever make me regret letting you go..."

He didn't have to finish his threat. I got it.

"Fair enough," I said.

He nodded, and turned away from me, ready to pull the car back onto the highway.

"It was Gabe," I blurted. Ben turned his head back towards me and blinked a few times, confused. I was left with no choice but to explain. "He's the one I shot in the apartment, and I think he's the one that girl was talking about. It was Gabe that showed up and said he was going to kill me."

Ben's mouth twisted, and I felt so relieved at having told him. I just hoped I'd get to be there when Ben ripped Gabe's head off for trying to hurt me.

"If that were true, you'd be dead right now."

It was my turn to look confused. I felt ice form in my gut at the realization that he didn't believe me.

"Ben..."

"No." He said coldly. "Gabe wouldn't touch you."

I snorted, indignant. "He touched me a good deal more than you think."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, but I knew he knew exactly what I meant even though I hadn't told him about what my 'mystery attacker' had done after the security guard had left. I could tell the exact moment that Alyxandra's words replayed in his head because his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. "You're lying."

"Believe what you like Ben."

"You fucked Gabe?"

My eyes widened and I gave him an incredulous look. "No. God no. He kissed me. And this was _after_ he said he was going to spare you the trouble by killing me himself. That girl back there isn't the only one with a few marbles missing."

The tires squealed as Ben pulled back onto the highway and floored it. If he was eager to get me home and be rid of me, so be it. It was exhausting having to sit in such a small space with so much negative energy in the air.

The rest of the ride home was made in silence.

- x x x -

Ben pulled up in front of our apartment building and stopped, foot on the brake rather than putting the car into park. I couldn't say I was sorry that he didn't intend to come inside with me. I opened my door, and as I stepped out of the car, there was movement at the foot of the stairway leading up to the second floor. As soon as Nicky stepped forward into the light, Ben put the car into park and flung his door open. He was around the car and between where Nicky and I stood before I even had my door shut.

"What's he doing here," Ben asked me.

I raised my eyebrows at him, because frankly I had no idea what Nicky was doing there and I didn't know why Ben would expect me to. I turned to Nicky and smiled warmly, because at that moment he was one of the few people I knew that wasn't on my shit list. Of course, I didn't know him very well. "Hey."

Nicky nodded at me, and gave Ben a quick once over. It would have been obvious to anyone that Ben was highly agitated. "I need to speak with your girl here."

Ben growled, eyes flashing in the dim circle of light cast by the car's headlights.

"Just go away Ben. Please?" I asked, too tired to deal with any more crap.

"Are you fucking him too?" He glared at me.

"Excuse me?" My voice high. I felt my fangs extend in response to my agitation. I'd had more than enough.

"I guess you have changed," Ben said harshly and I felt a chill travel up my spine as I read the threat that statement held.

"Fuck you," I said, speaking far more calmly than I felt.

Ben spun around took a step toward Nicky, leaving a bare two feet between the two men.

"Listen, I just..." Nicky put a hand up to explain.

Ben cut Nicky off with another growl. "You screwing my girl?"

Nicky's eyes went flat. "You need to walk away right now."

Ben took another half step forward so his face was only inches away from Nicky's. "You want to fuck a vampire? You can have the whore."

I gasped in shock when Nicky pulled a fist back and let it fly. The punch hit Ben square in the jaw, and he didn't so much as flinch. Nicky however, sucked it a breath.

"Mother f..." he pressed his lips together and flexed his fingers.

Ben showed no sign whatsoever that he'd been hit. He just glanced over at me, eyes hard, then returned to the car. I watched as the car pulled away, turn out into the street and speed away. When I could no longer see the taillights, I turned to Nicky.

"You just socked a werewolf in the face. That probably wasn't very smart." I laughed nervously, "But thank you."

"That's alright," he grinned, still flexing his fingers. At least he hadn't broken his hand. "I've always gotten by on my looks more than my brains anyway."

"I doubt that," I smiled. When he quirked an eyebrow at me, I felt the blood drain from my face. "Oh God, that came out wrong."

He just laughed. "What was that about? I came expecting to apologize for not having any info yet, not to bust my hand defending my honor."

"He's insane."

"Jesus," he said, flexing his hand.

"Would you like to come in for a drink?" I asked, feeling stupid.

He smirked.

"For you... not me. The jackass has a bottle of something brown and stinky in the cupboard. He bruised your hand with his face, so... he owes you. You might as well drink his booze."

"Sure," he said and followed me up the stairs.

"Your boyfriend's a real treat, kid."

I snickered. "A real treat?" I shook my head. "Ex-boyfriend. I dumped his lousy ass, and I'm feeling really good about it, thank you very much."

"That's because it probably hasn't sunk in yet. I take it the meeting tonight was not very helpful?"

I shrugged. "It helped me get rid of that jerk. But yeah, I know... let me enjoy my buzz while it lasts. I assume vampires can't drink alcohol?"

I got the door to the apartment unlocked and pushed the door open. I gestured for Nicky to go on in, and smiled when he poked his head in the door and took a casual look around before stepping inside. It seemed like a cop kind of thing to do.

I followed him in and flipped on the lights before making my way into the kitchen. My mess from the other day was gone, which saved me some embarrassment and the need for an awkward retelling of my first experience with sunlight as a vampire. I pulled the cupboard above the stove open and grinned over at Nicky.

"Score," he said and I grinned even brighter. "And to answer your question, no, can't say as I've ever seen a drunk vampire."

My grin turned into an instant pout. "That's so unfair. Nobody should have to go through eternity sober."

"Sorry," his smile looking far more amused than anything else.

I stuck my tongue out at him and his eyebrows hitched. I pulled a single glass out of another cupboard and tossed it to him, then laughed as he nearly fumbled the catch.

"A little warning, dead girl."

I rolled my eyes and swept out of the kitchen, one half a bottle of bourbon in one hand and an unopened bottle of tequila in the other. I really wanted that tequila. Nicky followed and we took seats on either end of the couch. I pulled my legs up under me and handed over the bourbon, keeping the tequila clenched in my fist.

"Giving a go anyway?" He asked me.

"Damned right," I said and got to work on opening the bottle. "There's ice in the freezer if you need it."

He shook his head dismissively and poured an inch of Wild Turkey into his tumbler. I wrinkled my nose at the smell of it and took a swig from my own bottle.

I licked my lips and waited to see what might happen. Nicky watched me, and I giggled because he was clearly still amused by me, and it amused me in turn.

The alcohol left a warm trail down my throat, so I figured so far so good. When it hit my stomach, it felt a little odd, like it had become a little ball of ice rolling around. It wasn't uncomfortable exactly, but it wasn't normal either, especially after feeling so warm going down. I decided it wasn't bad enough to stop me, so I took another drink.

"Blah," I made a face and shook my head. I'd had shots of tequila before, but I wasn't used to nursing it from a bottle. "Crap."

Nicky quirked that eyebrow again.

I pointed to the coffee table. "Gun's gone."

"The ladies usually have to spend a little more time in my company before they go looking for weapons."

I smacked him with a throw pillow and he snatched it away from me.

"Are you always this abusive towards new acquaintances, or am I just special?" He asked.

"Seriously. It was pretty much the only thing I had keeping me safe in this house."

Nicky tucked the pillow behind his back and put his feet up on the table. "You're a vampire. You're not helpless."

I grunted and rolled my eyes heavenward. "Apparently I'm not a real vampire yet. So, what brings you by?"

"Your people have me playing errand boy tonight. I've been asked to let you know that they'll be coming for you soon."

"Coming for me?" I sat forward and slid my legs out from under me, a nervous twinge in my gut. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing that ominous, I don't think." He shrugged. "I guess they're just ready to deal with you."

"Deal with me doesn't sound any less ominous than coming for me, you know."

"Relax, kid." He nudged my knee with the back of his hand. "If they were going to kill you, I doubt they'd give you advance warning."

"Yeah, well... ugh." I took another pull of my bottle. "Blah!"

"That doing anything for you," he asked.

"Nothing good." I made a face as I took another drink. He'd barely touched his bourbon.

"So tell me," I slid to the middle of the couch so I could drop my voice, though it wasn't like anyone was going to overhear our conversation. "Can all vampires poke around in someone else's head?"

His eyebrows knitted together. "How do you mean?"

"Well, Adam did something and made me spill that whole story about Gabe. And that was something I did not want to talk about. And tonight with your friend's wife, she was poking around in my head too. Though where I never even looked at Adam, this girl had me sit there while she stared in my eyes. I never had to say a word. She didn't ask me anything. She just sort of pulled what she wanted out of my head. It was like a movie playing. And... I don't know. She kind of pushed me out of my own head when I didn't want to remember all the stuff she was looking at."

"Damn," he said.

"Yeah," I laughed.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I'd wager Adam didn't have to have eye contact because he's old. Karrde's wife is still considered a newbie as far as vamp's go. They're the same age you know, her and Mike, so she's been a vampire for what, fifteen years maybe. I gotta think that means she'd not be that powerful yet."

I got a wicked grin on my face and leaned toward him, making eye contact. I tried to concentrate on what he might be thinking.

"Don't even try your Jedi mind tricks on me, dead girl." He poked me in the forehead and I harumphed at him.

He smiled to let me know there were no hard feelings and when he bent forward to place his tumbler on the table, I got a look at the back of his neck. A black 2 inch by 3 inch tall tattoo had been inked into his skin just under his hairline, thick lines forming some sort of tribal design.

"What's this?" I asked, brushing my fingers across the design. "Ben has something similar on his bicep, but it's more intricate with delicate lines.

Nicky grunted and tossed his head back, hiding the tattoo. "It's just a family thing. They're pretty common with werewolves."

"Ahh," I went to take another pull from my bottle but thought better of it, my stomach beginning to feel knotted. I leaned forward and sat it next to its cupboard-mate. "I keep forgetting you're on that side."

He shook his head. "I told you, I'm on my own side. I have familial connections and business connections. No sides. I'm in the unique position to work with both."

I thought back to what Ben had said about those family members of werewolves who never got the ability to turn wolf and I chewed my lip. "Have you ever thought about being turned? Vampire-wise?"

Nicky's face took on a very sober, nearly chastising look that he turned on me. "No. And the vampire that tried would be one very dead vampire."

I backed away a few inches on the couch. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by asking. I was just curious." I must have looked sufficiently mortified, because his face softened.

"Don't worry about it." He reached out and gently tugged on a blonde ringlet of my hair.

"Excuse me for a sec, I need to visit the bathroom." As soon as I stood up from the couch, I felt the alcohol in my stomach slide around and I pressed a hand to my middle. Disappointingly, I wasn't the least bit tipsy.

Since it had been a while since I'd been able to give my hair anything better than a finger combing, I did damage control and brushed through my curls until everything was back in its place. Then it was on to a good face washing. My stomach turned on me while I was still bent over the sink, and with one dizzying heave, all the tequila I'd consumed made its way up, out, and then was swirling down the sink, a foul stream of pink tinted nastiness. So, vampires couldn't hold their liquor. I groaned, then reached for my toothbrush.

After I'd cleaned myself up, I discovered Nicky had found his way back to the kitchen where he was making himself a sandwich. He pulled a package of lunch meat out of the fridge and gave it a sniff before deeming it edible.

"By all means, help yourself." I crossed my arms, tapping my foot.

"Mmm-hmm," he made a sound around a mouthful of pilfered pretzels and I laughed.

I took a seat at the kitchen counter and sighed miserably when he found a leftover slice of cheesecake in the back of the fridge. It was starting to dry out, but still looked heavenly. Eating it might have made me repeat the incident with the tequila but it still smelled awfully tasty.

Nicky chuckled cruelly when he caught my covetous expression and pinched off a piece of cream cheese goodness. When he held it towards me, perched precariously atop his finger, I glared at him. But when he shrugged and started to pull his hand back, I grabbed his wrist and popped his finger into my mouth. I might have accidentally on purpose bit him just a little bit. No fangs, just a little pressure between my front teeth. He flicked me square on the nose and tsked at me. I swung my foot towards him, but he jumped back and we both laughed.

I licked my lips. Cheesecake, sadly, still tasted like cheesecake. The fact that I couldn't sit down and enjoy a slice of it was truly inhumane.

"Don't pout. You get to drink all that rich, coppery, hot blood." Nicky pointed out ever so helpfully. "Who needs decadent desserts?"

"Who doesn't?" I mumbled.

"Vampires," he nodded sagely.

"You suck."

He snickered and bit into his sandwich.

"So..." I eyed him, trying to detect any telltale bulges under his jacket. It was still too hot to be wearing one, even in the wee hours. "Are you and Rita constant companions, or do you two just hang during working hours? Speaking of working hours, when the hell do you sleep?"

"Huh?" He gave me this adorably confused look.

I reached out and poked him in the side, and sure enough, there it was. "Your piece. Your hot blooded señorita." I rolled my eyes when it was clear he wasn't getting my meaning. "Every cool guy needs to name his gun."

"Ahh," he patted his side where I'd poked him. "We're pretty tight."

I watched him finish his sandwich and start on my cheesecake while I picked up after him. When he was done eating, he shooed me out of the kitchen. Literally. I let him lead me back to the couch, more entertained than annoyed by his behavior and his way of making himself completely at home.

He drained the bourbon from his tumbler and sat back to look at me. The corners of my mouth curved upwards and I shook my head at him.

"What?" He asked innocently.

I just shook my head again. "Nothing. I take it you're done with your vampire chores for the evening?"

He shrugged. "They don't ask much of me at night. Mostly they just want me to run around during the day when they're otherwise indisposed. I got nowhere to be."

"So you're going to spend the rest of the evening babysitting me?"

"Complaining?"

"Didn't say that," I smiled.

He leaned forward towards me. "There is something I was thinking about doing."

"I'd hate to keep you from anything important, but you're welcome to stay."

He snickered and I felt something like an electric current travel up my spine to shoot down my arms, making my fingers want to twitch. I wriggled on the couch, suddenly feeling nervous.

"See, there's this girl..."

"Oh?" I asked, my smile slipping.

"I was thinking about kissing her."

I blinked, surprised. I hadn't seen that coming. But... I didn't think I minded either. Maybe it was the fact that I'd just broken up with the love of my life five seconds earlier, but the thought of being kissed warmed me in ways and in places that didn't want to go cold again.

I grinned, "You should totally go for it."

And he did. He closed the distance between us in agonizing slowness, then his lips were pressing so very softly against mine that I might have been disappointed if not for the delicious warmth of his mouth and the sparks it set off in my body. Our kiss was gentle, experimental, testing the waters to see how it felt. I parted my lips and his tongue flicked teasingly across my own and one of us moaned though I couldn't have said which of us it was.

He pulled away just a fraction of an inch and I got the impression he was looking to see whether I was really okay with this. Or maybe he was checking to see if he was, I really don't know. But I wanted more. I brushed my lips against his.

He nipped my lower lip and placed one of his hands on the back of my neck, pulling me towards him and he kissed me again with more fervor. I felt myself smiling against his mouth. Emboldened, I pushed my body forward and wrapped an arm around his neck. I guess he took it as a good sign because he grasped my ass and pulled me along with him as he reclined on the couch, putting me more or less in his lap. I wasn't complaining.

He tasted like bourbon, and I had never enjoyed the flavor quite so much before. I wrapped my other arm around his neck and clasped my hands, resting my weight atop him. His hand flexed over the backside of my jeans and inched upwards until his fingers trailed over bare skin. I felt my arms break out into gooseflesh. I moved my lips to the corner of his mouth and trailed a slow line of kisses along his jawline until I reached his ear. I gave his earlobe a little tug between my teeth and he grunted, his hand sliding further up my shirt, fingers splayed across my lower back. I continued my trail of kisses down his throat until he stiffened.

I raised my head and met his eyes. "I won't bite," I promised.

"I might," he said, voice a little husky.

I grinned and bent my mouth back to his throat, nudging his chin upwards. I inhaled his scent, deliciously new, fresh and masculine, but so different from Ben.

The hand behind my neck slid upwards, and Nicky's fingers tangled in my hair. He bent his head forward and pressed his lips to my shoulder, then gently nipped at my skin. I moaned, more excited by the feel of his teeth on me than I'd have expected and felt moisture pool between my legs.

Our mouths met again, tongues tasting, teeth nipping, and I don't know how long we kissed before I felt his hands tugging at the button of my jeans. I wasn't sure how far I wanted to let things go with a man I barely knew, and so soon after such an unpleasant ending to the only serious relationship I'd ever been in. Nicky must have sensed my hesitation, because his hands froze and he broke our kiss.

I lifted my face to meet his eyes, but he wasn't looking at me and I followed his gaze to the front door. My hearing was far superior to Nicky's, but he'd heard the footsteps on the landing outside my apartment before I did. I guess I'd been a bit more distracted than he had, or maybe he was better used to paying attention to his surroundings. Either way, the footsteps passed by my door and continued on.

"Just a neighbor," Nicky wagered.

"Probably."

"Maybe we should take this somewhere else?" He asked, and I bit my lip on his assumption that it was going to continue much further. The word 'whore' was still ringing in my ears.

"I was going to check into a hotel for a few days, until I could figure something out. I can't sleep here." I extracted myself from Nicky's arms and tugged my shirt back down. I swept a hand over my belly, trying to look casual as I checked to see if my jeans were still buttoned. They were.

"You could crash at my place today." Nicky offered, and at my doubtful expression, he smiled and made me think of a teenaged boy he looked so cute and unsure of himself. "My place is a two bedroom, and unless you count Rita or the twins I don't have a roommate."

I wrinkled my nose. "Twins?"

"Clover and Michelle," he chuckled, "my dogs."

I laughed, then wrinkled my nose again because I just couldn't picture Nicky with a spare bedroom. It felt too suburban, and Nicky felt too... not. "You have an extra bedroom?"

"Well... I have a bedroom and an office. But there's a pullout in the office, so... sort of." He shrugged.

I bit my lip and lifted my shoulders. "Alright, I'll impose on your good will for one day."


	15. Chapter 15

I had grabbed a bag with a few changes of clothes in the hopes that I wouldn't have to return to the apartment for a few days, as well as an emergency credit card that Ben and I kept in the freezer, hidden beneath an old bag of frozen carrot slices that nobody with taste buds would ever go near. Once in the parking lot, I found myself standing beside Nicky's Buell. I'd never ridden on a motorcycle before and the idea was both a little exciting and a whole lot terrifying. We argued a few minutes over which of us would wear his helmet. The argument was pretty much ended when Nicky shoved the thing over my head and flipped down the visor. I crossed my arms over my chest in protest. He'd never have been able to see me glaring at him, so I didn't bother.

"Maybe I should just follow you with my car?" I asked.

He just shook his head at me. "We'll come back for it later."

He took my bag and secured it to the bike, then lifted his leg over the seat and straddled the bike, righting it. He nudged the kickstand out of the way with his heel, then gestured for me to get on behind him.

"Hold on tight," he said over his shoulder after I'd climbed on. My gut clenched and I needed no more encouragement. I wrapped my arms around his waist, flattening my body against his back and held on for dear life.

"I still have to breath, dead girl." He coughed. I let up just a tiny bit. When the engine roared to life, I tried to bury my face against his shoulder, but all I managed was to clobber him in the head with my helmet.

"Don't worry, you're not going to fall off." He yelled over the engine. I was tempted to close my eyes, like I always had on roller coasters.

We had just rolled forward a few inches when a dark, familiar vehicle pulled into the driveway. When it turned toward us in the parking lot, I felt Nicky stiffen. He cut the engine and he blew his breath out slowly.

"Too late," Nicky said in apology, glancing back at me.

I watched the black Crown Victoria pull into the parking spot beside us and my gut clenched painfully. My head felt stuffed pull of needles.

"Let's just go. Now." I pleaded.

Nicky shook his head and helped me off the bike. When he stayed where he was, I grasped his arm, already past the point of panic.

The back door of the car opened, and Nicky was able to get a look at the passenger before I could. He turned back to me and lifted the helmet from my head and caught my attention.

"Your best behavior with this one," he said with such seriousness that I tightened my grip on his arm. "You'll be fine, and I'll see you later."

"It's unkind Nicholas, to make promises you're not certain you can keep." Said a woman, stepping out of the car. She was striking with dark skin, black eyes, and dark hair that fell in sleek waves down to the small of her back. Although she appeared to be in her forties, I was certain she was far, far older. She wore a cream colored suit that complimented the rich, dark golden hues of her skin tone. I felt drab and washed out beside her, and when she turned toward me and looked me up and down, the feeling only intensified.

"Bhavna Pravil," she said, and held a hand out to me. A well manicured hand, I noticed, and she wore an intricately worked slave bracelet, though hers was the first I'd ever seen worked in gold.

I took her hand reluctantly, because it meant relinquishing my death grip on Nicky's arm. "Eryn Carter." My voice came out barely above a whisper.

"You may leave us," she said to Nicky, though she didn't look away from me. For a fleeting moment I considered pretending I thought she meant for me to go so I could away. It was such a tempting idea that I felt my muscles tighten in preparation for my flight.

Nicky removed my bag from his bike and handed it over to me. He wouldn't meet my eyes.

"You'll accompany me to the house," she spoke again. There was no question in her statement, and no room for argument. Her voice was cool, lacking emotion. I stood frozen like an idiot until she turned away and got back in the car, pulling the door closed behind her.

Nicky's motorcycle roared back to life beside me and I flinched.

"Good luck," he said, lips close to my ear. Then he pulled the helmet over his head and tore out of the parking lot, leaving me alone with... with a vampire. I was really starting to hate men.

- x x x -

It was difficult not to fidget, so I kept my hands clasped together in my lap and let my nails dig painfully into my palms. Fireworks were going off in my stomach and I felt like I needed air, and if I didn't get it soon, I was going to pass out.

Bhavna sat beside me in the car, ignoring me with a calm ease that I had no prayer of ever emulating.

"What's going to happen?" I asked and cringed at having broken the silence.

"That is entirely up to you," she said cryptically.

"I don't know what that means." I sounded breathless, and a little whiny

She glanced at me then, and I thought for the first time that I saw some tiny sliver of emotion. I just couldn't tell what it was. "You'll either join us... or you will not."

Silly phrases popped into my head, like "join the dark side, we have cookies" and "join us or die". I almost laughed, but I was too afraid of offending this woman.

"If I don't?" I asked hesitantly, because I was pretty sure the answer was obvious.

A faint smile passed across her lips and was gone again as quickly as it came. "Then we'll be rid of you."

I sighed in frustration but her answer had been about what I expected.

"Then I'll join you," I said because duh, I didn't want to die.

She laughed lightly, barely a laugh at all. "We shall see."

I opened my mouth to ask another question, dozens of them swirling in my head, fighting their way to the tip of my tongue. She glanced over at me again and I snapped my mouth shut. "Hush, you'll have answers soon enough. Sleep," she said.

- x x x -

A light touch on my arm woke me up. The car had stopped and I lifted my head to look out the window. We were parked in a circular driveway before what I'd always referred to as a mini-mansion. It was too large for me to feel right calling it a house, but not quite opulent enough for the right of being called a mansion.

I stepped out of the car, pausing to give Bhavna a quick glance. I was a little unnerved that a simple word from her had been enough to render me unconscious. She paid no attention to me as she swept her way around the car and up the steps to the double doors of the... house. I followed behind her, arms stiff at my side.

There was a guard at the doors, who stepped quickly to open them. He may have simply been a doorman, but he looked too severe to be anything of the sort. He wore a dark suit and sunglasses, although it was early in the morning and dark. I couldn't tell if he was human or vampire, or if he so much as looked at either myself or Bhavna as we passed him by. But that fact may have explained why he wore the things in the first place. Once inside the entryway, he shut the door behind us.

A grand staircase straddled either side of the foyer, leading up to the second floor, and upon looking up I saw a huge crystal chandelier hanging from the second floor ceiling, serving to light what I could see of the second floor landing and the downstairs entry. The doorways to both the rooms on either side of us were open, and to the right was what looked like a study or library. To the left was what may have been a sitting room, but really it looked much the same as the other room save for the walls of books.

Bhavna continued straight ahead, down the hallway that passed between the stairways, not once checking to make sure I followed. I ceased my gawking and hurried after her. The lighting in the hall was dim, especially after the cheerfully bright light cast by the monster chandelier. Bhavna paused ahead of me and tipped her head to someone nearly hidden in a corner of the hall, where it turned to the left, leading deeper into the house. I never would have spotted him had she not gestured toward him.

"Nathan," she said in introduction and was moving on before I could greet the man in turn. Our eyes met as I passed by, and he offered me a lazy smile. He was very handsome, appeared about my own age, and leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed over his chest and his face bore a smug, self important look. Shaggy dark hair curled around his ears and fell into his equally dark eyes. He winked at the exact moment I realized I was staring at him, and then the corners of his mouth quirked upwards when I jerked my head away. I hadn't meant to stare, and while he was attractive, I hadn't done so because of that. I was burning with curiosity about the people who lived here, assuming they were all vampires.

"Niteesh," Bhavna said a moment later and only a few feet further down the hall. This time she stopped and the middle-aged man she indicated brushed his knuckles across her cheek and flashed his teeth at the woman in a smile that promised things that I had no right or wish to witness. He was obviously of Indian descent like my hostess, and as dark skinned as Bhavna with eyes a shade or two lighter and curly black hair that he wore cut short.

I nodded to the man with a shy smile. He acknowledged me with a nod of the head, and then we were off again. I wondered how many more cute vampire men we'd come across decorating the dark hallway, but then we were standing before a set of doors to our right and Bhavna turned to face me.

"You are about to meet our Master." She said gravely and my stomach plummeted. "You will answer his questions verbosely. It is better to offer more than you think necessary than risk omitting something important because you either think it of little consequence or because it discomforts you. If your answers satisfy him, he will offer to allow you to make your oaths to him. There is no script for this. No canned response will please him. Do you understand?"

I shook my head, wide-eyed and scared. "I have no idea what's expected of me."

She pursed her lips and studied my face. Apparently satisfied with whatever she saw in me, she nodded. "It's just as well."

I had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but she turned away from me and opened the doors. I followed her, feet dragging now, into the room beyond.

The room was long and narrow, not to mention quite dark. A little light spilled into the room through a huge glass doorway on the left wall of the room. The doors were open to the night and I could see a garden beyond them, scenting the air with something sweet and spicy. Everything was silent save for the constant drone of cicadas and the splash of a fountain in the garden.

"Jesus, it's dark in here. Someone turn a damned light on."

I swung my head toward the source of the deep, irritable voice that came from the other end of the long, narrow room. A light came on, dim, but illuminating the room sufficiently enough that I could see everything... and everyone... in attendance.

The speaker was not a large man, but he was imposing all the same. He stood on what amounted to a stage, just a couple of feet higher than the rest of the room. His posture was erect, hands hidden behind his back. His head was shaved, and his age was difficult to guess. I had trouble staring at him. My eyes wanted to slide away.

There were a number of other people in the room, most lined up against the wall to the right. Their faces remained greatly anonymous. I was too afraid to regard them, but I did notice Derek among them. I counted them, my eyes downcast as Bhavna walked me forward, in a straight line across the room. There were seven of them.

A good six feet away from the man who had ordered the lights turned on, Bhavna stopped me. With a gentle pressure on my shoulders, she whispered to me, "Kneel."

I went down on my knees, self conscious. Bhavna remained beside me, eyes on the man whom I was left to assume was the vampire Master. I stared at his feet, which were bare and felt sweat break out across my forehead. I remembered another barefooted vampire, but this man did not resemble him in the least. I dared a glance up at his face. Thankfully, he was not looking at me, so I could get a better measure of him. His eyes were an unnatural yellow, similar to the gold color that I'd seen both Ben and Gabe's eyes turn, but it was a paler color, lacking their rich shades of amber and copper. He wore a plain white linen shirt and loose charcoal colored pants that reminded me of sweats. Clearly, he was more concerned with comfort than impressing his minions with a fabulous sense of fashion.

I squeezed my eyes shut and refocused, because I was on the verge of becoming hysterical. Refocusing my vision on the man's feet, I concentrated on remaining calm. It was easier said than done. I dug my fingernails into the palms of my hands, then relaxed them and pressed them to the tops of my thighs and forced them to remain still.

"Alright people, let's get this over with. Sun's coming up in an hour and twenty." The man before me spoke, and the clear displeasure evident in his tone at having to deal with me left my mouth and throat dry.

The man finally let his gaze drop to my face, but only for a moment before he raised his head again and stared out across the room. "Who brings this fledgling before me?" He asked, but the answer should have been obvious to him and my eyes wanted to flick to to Bhavna's face, but I forced myself to keep looking straight ahead.

"I do, Sire." Bhavna spoke clearly, and loudly enough for her voice to carry throughout the room.

"And who will speak for her?" He asked.

"I will." Bhavna replied.

"Very well," the man said, but his eyes turned back to me. "I am Erik Geier, Master of this Family. You have been turned illegally in our territory by a vampire who is not only not a member of this Family, but is an enemy to its members. Your creation is an insult to us. What have you to say for yourself?"

My fists clenched, as did my jaw. My eyes shot up to meet his, but just as quickly they slid away again and I found myself staring at his feet again. "I didn't ask for this. Sir," I added because I didn't think being impolite was going to get me very far. "I was lured in under false pretense and attacked. You say this is an insult to you, but there's a pack of werewolves out there who think it was meant for them. Frankly, I don't care who it was meant to tick off. I'm the one who has had her life disrupted."

"Fair enough," Erik smiled kindly. "I already know your story. But as you are, you are a threat to us, regardless of your innocence."

I scoffed. "I'm not a threat to anyone. I'd rather like to eviscerate a couple of werewolves and rip the heads off of a couple of vampires, but I'm not actually going to be doing any of that."

He lifted his chin, but kept his eyes down on me. "You are ignorant." He said, and I furrowed my brows, because... duh. "Your very blood is a threat. So long as your Sire's blood runs thick in your veins, you are his pawn. The fact that he does not appear to have used you yet is a puzzle to us."

I cringed, because that was all new information to me. And it was very unwelcome.

"I can release you from his thrall," Erik told me.

Although it had been said more as a statement of fact rather than an offer, I grasped at it and looked up at him, meeting his eyes. I fought the urge to look away again. "Please," I said, and knew I sounded desperate.

He smiled again, pity clear in his eerie yellow eyes. "Freedom for your Sire comes with its own consequences, equal in weight. You would be trading one Master or another. This isn't the life you chose, so I'd ask that you consider whether you would not prefer the freedom of death."

I sighed heavily. "I might have considered that as an option a few days ago, but not now. I'm tired of letting everyone make me feel worthless. I'm tired of being threatened by people who are supposed to care about me, and the fact that my death would probably make them feel relieved really pisses me off. I don't want to die. If you want me to pledge to you, or swear to serve you, or whatever it is you want, I will do it. And if it's a rub in the asshole's side who did this to me, then I will take pleasure in doing so." I winced. "Pardon my French." Someone snickered.

He nodded and lifted his head to look over the others present throughout the room. "What say you? Is there one among you who would take responsibility for this novitiate? One who would guide her, protect her, and teach her? One who would accept punishment for her transgressions?"

I didn't think that sounded good. I didn't know any of these people, and there was no reason for any one of them to want to help me, especially if it was going to involve punishment if I screwed up. I bit my lip.

"Dibs," someone said from behind me, and I glanced back to see Nathan standing across the room near the doorway. He was, once again, leaning against the wall, this time with his hands in his pockets. He chuckled and grinned at me when he caught my eye.

Great, and I meant great in the highest form of sarcasm possible. I looked back up at Erik, who had his eyes narrowed in Nathan's direction. Apparently he shared my opinion.

"Dibs, Mr. Grant? I don't believe I was asking if anyone wanted the last licorice whip from Aris's stash." A tall, red-headed girl to our right sniggered.

I looked back at Nathan and saw him shrug before wiping the grin off his face. "Sire." He bowed formally, and in a voice free of sarcasm he intoned, "I, Nathan Grant, do humbly offer myself for the task of this vampire's upbringing."

Erik sighed and I whipped my head back around to face him. "So be it. You may offer me your oath."

Relief flooded me, but I had no idea what to say.

"The words don't matter so much as their intent. Go ahead," he said.

I swallowed. "I pledge myself to you, willingly." I thought about swearing not to run around town massacring the villagers, but didn't think that was quite what he was after. Screw it, I thought. "I admit I don't understand what all of this means, but I do want to learn. I don't want to be alone in this. I'll do my best to fill whatever role it is I'm to play in your Family. If I'm accepted. I swear to never do anything intentionally that would harm or threaten you or your Family."

"She swears to be a good girl and do whatever daddy tells her," a slight, brunette girl said from beside the redhead.

Bhavna hissed, not so much like a cat, but more simply a sound of annoyance and chastisement. The girl slapped a hand over her mouth, then hid behind the redhead.

I smiled, grateful for the interruption. "I can't swear to always be a good girl, but I do promise to make every possible effort."

"I accept your oath."

That was easy.

Tension filled the air as Erik hopped down from the stage and took a seat on the edge. He began rolling up his shirtsleeves. Bhavna put a hand on my shoulder, as if to tell me to remain as I was, but I made no move to stand.

"You will need to be drained of your blood," Erik said, his voice gentle. "Doing so will weaken the bond between you and your Sire. It will not be pleasant. Humans often find pleasure in our bite, but it is not so between vampires. Our bodies are immune to the endorphins found in our saliva, so we feel the pain of the bite. I apologize, but this is the best way for us to proceed. When it is done, you will be given my blood and a new bond will form. This will break your Sire's hold on you. You will be mine, just as though I had turned you myself."

I took a quick look around the room at the faces of the other vampires and I found my eyes squeezed shut. They looked hungry; eager to see my blood shed.

"Let it be done," Erik called out to the room and I heard movement all around me.

I kept my eyes shut, teeth clenched, not sure what to expect. My arms were lifted, palms turned upwards. Someone bent my head to the side, baring the side of my neck. I curled my toes, my entire body tense. And then the vampires bit and the room filled with the scent of my blood.

The pain wasn't as intense as I'd feared. Fire lanced at both my wrists and at my neck when I felt their fangs sink into my flesh like oversized needles. I managed to endure it without a sound until they withdrew, one at a time. I think I whimpered. Then there were others taking their places, piercing me in new places so that the pain was doubled.

My heart began to beat, slowly at first, but as my blood thinned, my heart beat faster until it pounded in my chest, a desperate attempt at moving my blood through my body. The pain faded, my heart began to slow once again, and when I tried to open my eyes, I found I no longer could.

Eventually, I felt someone lift me up into their arms and I was carried away, numb, floating, and cold.


	16. Chapter 16

- Thursday -

I woke up slowly, sluggishly. My eyes remained stubborn, lids too heavy to lift. I was lying on a cloud so soft that I didn't want to move for fear I'd stop floating and find myself falling back to earth. And I was warm.

"I think she's in there," someone said in a girlish voice, and when I felt fingers prodding my forehead, none too gently, I flinched back. "See."

"Then stop poking at her," this voice was masculine and I felt the owner's breath on my ear when he spoke. I clenched my hands and felt sheets bunch together in my fingers.

The sheet was tugged out of my right hand, then my arm gently rolled over and held just below the elbow. Something was pulled away from my skin followed by a small sting. The hand released me and finally, my eyes popped open.

I recognized the girl standing beside me as the one who'd shouted out about being a good girl during my oath giving. She was petite with long, light brown hair that fell down her back and shoulders, stopping at her lower back. Her eyes were a bright gray, and she stared at me with them in a youthful, dimpled face.

Looking down at her hands, I saw that she'd just removed an IV from my arm. As I watched her, she gathered three empty bags of blood and threw them into a wicker basket against the wall.

I was in a bedroom, masculine in its furnishings. The walls were mostly bare, painted white. The furniture was sturdy looking, probably oak, but looked well worn. It was not tidy. I saw dirty laundry on the floor, looking as though it had been kicked against the wall to get it out of the way. I turned to get a look at the rest of the room and made a startled noise in my throat when I rolled into another body. I looked up into Nathan's pleasant face.

"How're you feeling sunshine?"

I groaned and started to sit up, only to grasp the sheets to hold them against me a second later.

"Why am I naked?" I asked, startled.

"Your clothes were all bloody and gruesome," the girl said behind me. "It was pretty cool."

"My underwear?" I asked, still glaring.

"I just thought those were ugly," she said matter-of-factly.

Nathan chuckled beside me.

"Ohh..." the girl giggled. "I think she thought you might have been ungentlemanly with her."

I ignored her. "Can I have something to wear please?"

Cocking her head to the side, the girl studied me for a moment. "You should let Madeline take you shopping." She said. "I let her dress me up sometimes, like her own life size barbie doll. She's good. She'll do it if you ask. But don't let her pick out your shoes. She believes feet are thick skinned so that they can endure the agony of being stuffed into hard, rigid things that are too small and don't allow the blood to flow. No matter how nice they look, I gotta say... save the piggies. Save your piggies."

The girl plopped herself down on the bed by my feet as Nathan rolled off of it and went to a chest of drawers.

"I'm Aris," she smiled at me, dimpling cutely. "Like Paris, but without the 'P', and not like an heiress with an inheritance, because the only rich daddy I have is Erik and I don't think he's going to kick the bucket and leave me his fortune."

"How old are you?" I asked, thinking of Adam. This girl certainly wasn't so young, but she looked barely seventeen. It bothered me deeply that someone so young should be turned.

Her smile slipped away along with the dimple. "That's a very rude thing to ask. Would you like to ask whether I'm pregnant too? Question my sexual orientation? My political views and my stance on wearing white after labor day?"

I blinked, surprised by the irritation in her voice and looked toward Nathan for help. He flung a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt at me. I was grateful for the clothes, but he offered no further help.

"I'm sorry," I told Aris. "I didn't mean to offend you."

I wriggled my way into the clothes under the covers since neither of them seemed willing to give me any privacy.

"So, what happened?" I asked.

"You were asking me rude questions." Aris stated.

Nathan smacked her with a pillow and she gave me a dirty look, as though I were responsible.

"After you were mobbed by hungry vampires, I carried you to my room and Aris got you set up with the IV. After making you all nude and comfy in my bed. You didn't miss much. And yes, I was all gentlemanly."

I glanced up at him and he smiled.

"What? I'm not into having an audience." He gestured toward Aris.

"Gross! If I want to watch monkeys mating, I'll go watch cable." She made a disgusted face. "I'm going to take a sun bath before it gets too muggy."

"You're not a vampire?" I asked, startled.

"Duh," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Erik tried to turn the little freak years ago, but it wouldn't take." Nathan slid back onto the bed, lying on his stomach.

Aris smiled down at him, face a picture of pure innocence. "The next time you call me a freak, I'm going to introduce your pretty face to a meat grinder."

Nathan simply smiled back.

"A long time ago? But you're just a kid. What's with the baby vampires around here?" I addressed the last question to Nathan.

"Ahh, you've met Adam. If it makes you feel any better, Aris was a lot older back then."

He ignored the look of confusion on my face and turned back to Aris. "You should show her your scary face."

Aris giggled. "Okay, okay. Let me see... okay, look at me."

I turned back to face her, brow furrowed. And then I was on my feet, still on bed, back against the wall, a terrified yelp caught in my throat. I tripped on the pillow at my feet and teetered on the edge of the bed before hitting the floor with a solid thump. I couldn't get back on my feet fast enough and I scrambled across the floor until I was backed into the corner, ready to scream.

Aris was giggling again and I watched, eyes bulging, as the let herself out of the bedroom. She glanced back once before closing the door behind her, smile and dimple back in place.

Nathan pulled himself across the bed until he was facing me, eyes sparkling. "What did she show you?"

I gulped and had to swallow a few times before I could answer him. Every muscle in my body felt like it had turned to gelatin. "You didn't see?"

He shook his head. "She showed you, not me. What did you see?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, and opened my mouth to tell him, but no words came out. I wrinkled my nose. "I don't know," I said.

He just looked at me expectantly.

"Seriously, I don't know. I can't... remember. I just know it scared the shit out of me."

He sighed, but then shrugged it off and patted the bed next to him. I stayed where I was. A look of annoyance crossed his face, but was gone again so quickly that I might have imagined it.

"What is she?" I asked, voice a little hushed.

"Most of us like to think of her as a really annoying little sister." He rolled over onto his side on the bed. "A little tip for when you have to deal with the little psychopath. Red Vines. Stock up on the stuff. She'll pretty much do anything for it."

"Okay, noted." I looked at the door where the girl had passed only minutes earlier. I really hoped I wouldn't be having to deal with her any time soon. "But what _is_ she? She's not human, right? So... what does she do here?"

"Well, if you ask her, and I wouldn't recommend it, she'll tell you she's a girl. That would be followed by the thing about rude questions, but since she already had that talk with you, she'd probably step it up a level." He grinned, and a chill ran up my spine. "Like I said... I wouldn't recommend it. She's never actually hurt one of the Family except under order, but she doesn't have to touch you to screw with your head. She's pretty brilliant, really. Erik makes use of her unique talents in a number of fabulous, horrible, nasty ways. She commands the security for the house during the day, manages the guards, keeps everyone safe and snug, all that. And she handles most of the wetworks."

"Wetworks?" I frowned, not sure I heard him right, or that he was serious.

"Yeah, that means..."

"No, no, I know what wetworks means. Maybe it has a different meaning when you put vampires in the mix, but are you shitting me? She's just a kid." The alarm in my voice was only slightly lessened by the fact that she'd had me cowering in the corner minutes before.

He lifted a shoulder. "The girl likes to kill stuff."

"But," I started, but he cut me off with a wave of his hand.

"Enough about Aris." He said.

I sighed. "Okay. Can I ask about something else?"

"If you must."

"What happens now? My being brought here and everything happened so fast. It seems too easy. I don't think my brain has caught up yet. And why did Bhavna say she was going to speak for me? She didn't say a word after that."

He let his head drop to the bed and sighed heavily before lifting it again to look at me. "You ask the silliest, most unimportant questions. It was part of the ceremony. It didn't mean she was literally going to talk for you. It meant she was the one who brought you to the house, and if you had gone on a rampage and starting attacking Family members and destroying the house, she'd have been responsible for the damage you caused."

I nodded, and waited for him to continue.

"A handful of years ago, you probably would never have been brought here. Someone like Aris would have been sent to eliminate you. But, where our numbers were once in the sixties, we've dwindled down to twenty-eight vampires, including you. It was more beneficial to us to bring you in rather than destroy you."

"Wow," I bit my lip. "What happened to them all?"

"We used to think it was the wolves." His voice went cold. "No doubt they're responsible for their share, but I think we have your Sire to thank for a good number of our losses. And to save you from asking, if we could find the son of a bitch we would kill him. Not even Aris can figure out where him and his companion are hiding."

I stared at my hands, feeling ashamed that I had any connection to the two vampires who had twisted my life around.

Nathan cleared his throat, bringing my attention back to him. He crooked a finger at me and patted the spot on the bed beside him.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, and for the second time I ignored the question because so many of my own questions weighed heavy on my mind.

I brought my knees up against my chest and rested my chin on my knees. "What about the next part?" I asked. "What happens now?"

He scratched his chin as if to think my question over, and I waited for him to answer. He moved forward, and with a dizzying blur of motion, I found myself on my back, head bouncing painfully off the carpeted floor. Nathan had a hand wrapped around my throat and he knelt over me, face still pleasant. I thrashed in panic, kicking, hands wrapped around his wrist. I didn't need to breath, so his hand at my throat didn't cause me much harm, but it constricted my ability to speak or cry out, and it hurt. When I stopped struggling, tears in my eyes, he lessened his grip. He didn't remove his hand from my throat, nor did I remove my hands from his wrist.

"Now," He said, friendly smile still in place, eyes warm. "How are you feeling?"

"My throat kind of hurts," I whispered hoarsely.

He laughed. "Was that so hard? I think I've answered most of your questions. Next time I ask you something, I expect you to answer me. Sound fair?"

I couldn't nod, so I squeaked out something that sounded agreeable.

"Good."

I forced my hands away from his wrist, instinct screaming at me to fight. He didn't remove his hand.

"Okay, now we get to the good part if I'm following your line of questioning correctly. I assume you were going to ask about me claiming responsibility for you?"

I managed a small nod this time, his grip on my throat relaxed enough to allow some small movement. "What would have happened if nobody had?" I asked.

"Erik would have assigned you to someone." Nathan crossed his legs, making himself comfortable beside me. "I get bored though, so I figured why not? Besides, if I hadn't then Derek might have and I hear you had a little run in with him. Erik probably would have refused to let him have you, but who knows. He'd have messed you up, and you're too cute to have let that happen. Don't get me wrong, he'd have eventually turned you into a kick ass vampire. But I can do that minus the emotional trauma."

I was already feeling a little emotionally traumatized. My face must have betrayed what I was thinking, because he laughed and gave my throat a little squeeze and shook my head.

"I'm just reminding you who's in charge here. It will save us time and battles of will later on." He bent over me, eyes on mine. "You might be Erik's daughter now, but until he deems your education sufficient, you more or less belong to me. I'm a nice guy. Really, I'm easy going, fun loving, easy to get along with. What I am not, is one of your soft, human professors who will send you off to visit the dean if you get unmanageable in class. I will discipline you. I will not put up with insubordination. Do we understand each other?"

I stared up at him, my insides jelly, cowed. It was the look on his face that really chilled me. He looked as though we were having a perfectly friendly chat instead of him pinning me to the floor by my throat. I nodded again.

He nodded once, accepting my mute reply. "I hope so, because this is a serious matter. I've taken responsibility for you. If you screw up, it's my neck. That doesn't mean you get off the hook. If I have to take the heat for you getting yourself into trouble, you're going to learn very quickly just how serious I can get."

Nathan removed his hand from my throat and stood, then offered his hand to help me up. I didn't particularly want to touch him after all that, but I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet.

"We still have most of the day left before sundown, so let's get some sleep. You'll be given your own room tonight." He lay back on the bed, atop the covers.

"I have an apartment," I said. He couldn't know I had no intention of returning there except to pack what I couldn't live without.

He slid his hands behind his head and glanced at me. "Not anymore."


	17. Chapter 17

I stood in my new room, which despite the fact that it was downright ugly and directly across the hall from Nathan, I rather liked it. The walls were a faded yellow, with wallpaper on the bottom quarter of the walls, done in a dark charcoal color broken up by thin lines of the same yellow. It was a pattern more fitting for a snooty Victorian gown than wallpaper. The white lacquered wooden four poster bed dominating the room had a matching bedspread. It was pretty awful, kind of Gothic and reluctantly feminine, but I appreciated its personality. The rest of the furniture was also of the same design, everything the same lacquered white. The carpet, which at least looked new, matched the yellow walls and stripes. The thing I liked most about the room, however, was the fact that my bag sat in the middle of the bed, meaning I could change out of Nathan's clothes and into my own.

A tap on the open door behind me got my attention and I turned around to face the pretty redhead I'd seen the night before.

"There's a really cute werewolf causing a scene outside. He says he wants you, and a few of us are contemplating letting him have you." She smiled, fangs showing. She looked more amused than mean though. "If you survive, we're going out dancing at Heat. You're welcome to join."

I looked down at the shirt and sweats I'd borrowed from Nathan and made a face. "I was about to change, but I just have jeans. Isn't Heat one of those fancy high class nightclubs?"

"Yes. Jeans are not part of the dress code. Come on, I'll loan you a dress that'll not only be appropriate, but will have that dog of yours panting at your heels." She turned to leave and I quickly followed after her with a breathless thanks. She shrugged, her back to me. "I'm Madeline, by the way. It'll be nice having another girl in the house. It's you, me, Aris, and Bhavna against five guys. It's good to have a little balance."

"Who are all the guys," I asked.

"Erik of course, Nathan, Niteesh, though he's married to Bhavna and since he's married I don't know if he should count, Adam, whom you'll likely rarely see and definitely doesn't count, and Anthony. Everyone else lives in the city or just outside in the rural areas. You'll meet everyone eventually. A bunch of us will be at the club tonight."

Madeline pushed a door open, halfway down the hall from my room and I noticed for the first time that none of the doors had locks. I didn't say anything, but I didn't like it. I closed the door behind me after following her inside.

Madeline's room was a riot of colors, which surprised me a little because the girl herself carried a sophisticated air, dressed in a muted palette of colors consisting of gray slacks and an ivory blouse. She did wear a healthy dose of jewelry though. All gold, naturally.

She opened her closet doors, glanced at me again, lips pursed in thought, and began fingering through the hangers, inspecting what hung there. "There's no time for a shower or for us to do anything with your hair, so we'll have to go all out on your clothes." She smiled, satisfied with whatever she found in her closet and pulled out a little black dress. The little black dress; the one every girl had in her closet.

"Nothing works like the classics," she said and bent to pick up a pair of strappy heels that looked like they might actually fit and did not match Aris's description of torture for the feet. She pointed towards the bathroom. "Better hurry."

A mere five minutes later, we stood just inside the front doors of the house. Aris was running back and forth from window to window, trying to get a good look at the commotion outside, whining about not being allowed to go out and see what the fuss was. A quick look out the window myself was enough to knot my stomach. I already knew who would be standing out there, but seeing him made it worse. I didn't want to talk to Ben.

"I don't know what he's doing here," I groaned. Madeline took a peek out the window and smiled, fangs showing again.

"He looks yummy," she said.

"You can have him," I sighed. "He's an asshole."

"They all are, sweetheart."

I took another look to see who was out there with him and saw Nathan, Derek, and Bhavna. Ben's face was mottled with red, angry. He paced a few feet away from the trio. The vampires stood still, watching him. I couldn't hear what was being said, but it was clearly an argument.

"Better get out there," Madeline said cheerfully. "He's going to get himself killed if you don't get him calmed down."

"I want to play with him," Aris bounded over. "Send him inside."

Madeline turned on her, "You need to go get dressed. We'll be leaving soon."

Aris made a rude gesture and glued herself to the window.

I groaned, wanting to stomp my feet in frustration, but I'd probably have broken my neck in Madeline's heels. She pulled the door open for me with a little smirk and gave me a little push to get me out the door. She didn't follow me out, but she didn't close the door behind me either.

Four pairs of eyes turned to regard me as I stepped onto the porch. Ben relaxed visibly, but he still looked dangerously wound up.

"There now, you see? She is fine. No harm has come to Miss Carter, so I must insist that you calm yourself." Bhavna spoke to Ben, but he ignored her and kept his eyes on me.

I stopped beside the other three vampires, not so much because I felt safer beside them, but because as I went to pass by Nathan, he put his arm around my back and took hold of my shoulder. It must have looked casual, but his fingers dug into my shoulder in such a way that he might as well have ordered me to stop. The gesture wasn't lost on Ben, whose eyes darkened. Nathan smiled in response and pulled me closer. The possessiveness, whether intentional or not, grated on my nerves and I wasn't the only one affected. Ben snarled. Derek took a step forward, looking for all like he was eager for a fight.

"Stop!" I shrugged out from under Nathan's arm, preferring the risk of pissing him off to having an all out war break out. "What do you want Ben? How did you even know where I was?"

"I need to talk to you," he said, starting to pace again.

Nathan grabbed my wrist when I stepped forward, eliciting another snarl from Ben.

"Get your hand off her," his eyes flashed, hands clenched.

"This is ridiculous," I glared at Nathan and he laughed, which didn't help the situation.

Derek looked between Ben and Nathan and crossed his arms over his chest. "Boy, you gonna get in a pissing match with a wolf, who you think gonna win that one?"

Nathan gave him an unconcerned shrug.

"She's mine," Ben growled through clenched teeth. "And I want to talk to her."

"Excuse me?" My eyes widened. "What he hell is _wrong_ with you?"

"Mine now," Nathan said cheerfully. "So sod off before we call animal control."

I sucked in a breath and willed myself not to turn around and sock Nathan in the face because while I was furious, I was still a little afraid of him.

"Technically, children, she belongs to me." Erik Geier stepped out through the front door and looked over our little group with distaste. "Nathan, go inside. Derek, thank you for your assistance, but I don't believe this matter concerns you, so you may leave."

Both men nodded respectfully to their Master and Derek disappeared back into the house. Nathan followed after a stern look from Erik. The tension in the air remained thick enough to choke on, but it was better.

Bhavna was not dismissed, and Erik moved to stand beside her. They both watched Ben, and I watched all of them. Ben glared back at them.

"She may speak to you," Erik said to him. "But you will not touch her without her permission. She is no longer your mate and you do not retain any rights to her."

Mate? I didn't know who to glare at, so I glared at my feet and stewed. Everyone had gone insane.

"I'm not going to hurt her," Ben growled.

"You're not in control of yourself." Erik replied calmly. "I would not have one of my children harmed by a lovesick boy who cannot reign in his temper."

Ben snorted, which was a little insulting. But then, I almost did the same, because... ha. Lovesick my ass.

I stepped down off the porch and took Ben by the elbow. He yanked his arm back at my touch and I huffed at him in frustration. I motioned for him to follow me and led him to the end of the short driveway, by the open gates out front.

"What do you want?" I asked again, turning to him. "We're leaving in a few minutes, so let's make this fast."

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

I blinked slowly at him, because it was a pretty stupid question and I wasn't sure it even warranted an answer. "Surviving," I said after a long minute of having him stare at me.

I waited for the apology that I knew was coming, not really wanting to hear it, but knowing I deserved one. He stood facing me, hands shoved into his pockets, eyes down, far calmer now that it was just the two of us, even though we were being watched.

"I almost lost it," he said. "All those leeches."

"I'm one of those leeches," I said coldly, grateful for being angry enough to keep it together and not break down in front of him.

"I know," he said, lifting his head. Those two words did terrible things to my insides.

I put my hands on my hips and waited.

"I need to know what you want to do about the apartment." He said.

I stared back at him for a moment, caught off guard by his question, and too confused to respond immediately. "The apartment? Are you kidding me? You came _here_ to ask me about the damned apartment?"

"I need to know what you want me to do," he repeated.

"Christ Ben, I don't care what you do. I'll be by soon to get my car and pack my stuff. Keep everything else, throw it out, whatever. Is that all? You came here and made a scene to ask me that? Really?"

"I guess that's it," he said, not breaking eye contact with me.

I should have just walked away right then, but I was practically buzzing with pent up emotion. I had been so sure he was going to apologize. It made me feel mean. "Are you sure? You don't want to call me a whore again? Threaten me?"

His mouth hardened into a flat line, but he didn't say anything. He just turned and walked away. I didn't feel very proud of myself.

- x x x -

Heat wasn't what I expected. Not that I knew exactly what I expected. The nightclub wasn't very different from any other nightclub I'd ever been in. It wasn't saying a whole lot. I hadn't been to many. There weren't many people there, but it was a weeknight. The bouncer at the door had been checking names against a list though, so maybe that accounted for the club only being half full when we arrived. Private party and all that. My name hadn't been on the list, but it was scribbled down at Madeline's request.

There was a circular dance floor in the center of the club, not very big, with a central ring being raised, maybe for live entertainment. People danced there now, to the heavy trance music being pumped in through the DJ booth. Strobe lights flashed through multicolored spot lights, resembling lightning through a thin wall of smoke escaping through vents under the dance floor where a smoke machine must have been hiding. The dance floor was ringed with tables and Madeline dragged me to one of these, where a few others already sat.

Madeline introduced me, but I promptly forgot their names. I was too busy looking around, focusing on individual faces, trying to guess if they were human or otherwise. Pale faces dotted the club-goers but that wasn't necessarily enough to name them blood drinkers.

Someone held their hand out and I responded automatically, shaking his hand. The owner of the proffered hand was a middle aged man, salt and pepper hair with a friendly smile. He was dressed like he'd just left the office, and maybe he had. I think Madeline had said his name was Michael. The man sitting to his left was younger, closer to my age and he lifted his hand in a wave. I couldn't remember his name, but he was more interested in watching the people on the dance floor than making nice with the new girl anyway. The woman at Michael's other side leaned toward me as Madeline and I sat down. I thought her name might have been Janice. She wore a lot of makeup, and I was pretty sure her platinum blonde hair was not the color nature had given her.

"You're the new girl, huh?" She asked me.

"I guess I am," I replied, nervous smile in place.

"Cool," she smiled. "Welcome to the Family. We've been past due for some new blood."

"Thanks," I said, smile a little less forced.

"So, who'd you get stuck with? Maddy's too selfish to volunteer her time keeping a newbie on a leash."

Madeline rolled her eyes and shot her arm up and yelled for drinks.

"Umm... Nathan?" I said, not sure if I understood the question. But she only nodded.

"He's okay. Just don't sleep with him, or he'll get bored with you and you'll never learn anything."

My eyes widened. "Not a problem." And it wasn't. Nathan might have been attractive, but the thought of... doing anything... with him made me queasy.

A perky cheerleader-like waitress came over to get our drink orders, which caught me off guard again because I was under the impression we couldn't drink. The anonymous young man at the table ordered a rum and coke, but then Michael ordered an A-positive for himself and Janice. Madeline ordered an O-positive. When the waitress turned to me for my order, I felt like everyone was staring at me. The thought of drinking a glass of blood out in front of everyone gave me the creeps.

"Umm... any type is fine, thank you." I said, very nearly squirming with discomfort.

"Lucky bitch," Janice laughed, and it made me feel instantly more at ease. At least I felt better until I felt someone step up behind me and lean down to speak in my ear.

"You should get to know the subtle differences in flavor and scent for all blood types, regardless of what you can drink. You never know when that knowledge might come in handy," Nathan said, his breath fanning over my cheek. He sat down beside me and I had to fight not to inch my chair further away from him.

The tension must have been obvious, because Janice looked back and forth between us, my posture stiff, Nathan's easy and relaxed. She smiled and I got a glimpse of fangs hidden behind her bright red lips.

Madeline leaned forward to speak to her, "I think his charms have failed him with this one." Janice's grin widened.

Nathan leaned back in his chair with an innocent, wounded look. "Give me some credit. It's difficult to charm someone when they're unconscious in your bed."

I groaned, and the guy without a name leaned forward.

"Aren't you supposed to do the charming before you get them in your bed?" He asked with a wicked smile that made me hope someone ate him.

"I was receiving a blood transfusion," I said in defense of myself, but that just made everyone at the table laugh. I didn't get it.

The waitress returned with our drinks, which shut everyone up for a minute, except for Nathan, who unfortunately had no drink to occupy his attention.

The blood was served in margarita glasses, slightly warmed. It looked every bit as disgusting as I'd imagined, but another quick look around the room showed a few others here and there with the same glasses. The others at the table lifted the glasses to their lips as though it was all normal, but I only stared at mine.

"Drink it," Nathan said. "What you got from the boss this morning isn't going to keep you."

Okay, I'd drank blood twice before, and it hadn't tasted gross. The whole idea however, still was. Plus, the blood I'd had before hadn't exactly been human. Not that I was sure this was. I wrinkled my nose and made sure not to breath in so I couldn't smell what I was about to put in my mouth. With a cringe, I brought the glass to my lips and took a small taste. Nathan watched me intently, but nobody else paid me any attention. When I didn't spew it across the table or fling the glass across the room, he took his eyes off me and let me drink in peace.

It didn't taste bad, though I wouldn't say it was something I'd crave either, at least not taste-wise. It wasn't as pleasurable to drink as it was the last times I'd taken it from the source, but it did leave a warm trail down my throat that spread out slowly through my body once it reached my stomach. I might not be craving the taste any time soon, but I could see craving the warmth. It was like having an electric blanket wrapped around you after trekking through the snow, only minus the painfully thawing fingertips and toes, runny nose, and chattering teeth.

I looked up, startled, as Nathan jumped up onto his chair and raised a glass that I hadn't seen him with before, but I had no chance to question where it came from before he shouted for everyone's attention. Someone moved a blue spotlight onto him and I shied away from the circle of light, nudging Madeline back. She threw an arm around my shoulder and laughed.

"Friends!" He shouted, "And all you other assholes too! We're here tonight to celebrate the acceptance of a new sister into our ranks. Eryn Carter."

Madeline tried to push me to my feet and I gave her a look that would have shriveled lesser creatures. She just rolled her eyes at me and pushed me off my chair, so that I was standing awkwardly while half the people in the room looked at me, curious. The rest either looked indifferent or weren't paying attention.

"Welcome sister!" It was a small percentage of the room that called out, but many hands raised clasping drinks in them in a toast. I raised my hand and waved, feeling too embarrassed to live.

"Let the hazing begin!" He shouted to an instant roar of laughter, hooting, and applause. He jumped down and leaned close to my ear. "Just kidding on that one."

I looked to Madeline for help, but she just shrugged.

"But aren't most of the people here human?" I asked him.

He shrugged as if it didn't matter. "Blood slaves." He said, like that answered everything.

He ignored the confused look on my face.

"Come on then," Nathan took my hand and started pulling me towards the dance floor. Panicked, I latched onto Madeline and wouldn't take no for an answer. If I was going to be forced to dance with Nathan, I wasn't going to be the only one.

We danced, and I found I was actually enjoying myself. The music blended together, one track after another, the faces around us constantly changing. Madeline moved off to join some guy on the dance floor, leaving me alone with Nathan. We'd been at it for a while by then, and I could feel a fine sheen of sweat on my forehead.

Nathan moved in when the music slowed enough to warrant it, and I flinched when he touched me. Instead of backing off, he put an arm around me and leaned in.

"Why are you so jumpy?" He asked.

"My throat is still sore," I said dryly. It wasn't true, but my point was made all the same.

"That's all?" He put his other arm around me, trapping me. "I'm not going to beat you up. I just had to get your attention and make you listen."

"How come it's all right for these people to know about us?" I asked him, changing the subject to something I found more interesting.

"Stubborn," he muttered. "They're property. They don't matter."

And then I got an eyeful of Aris on the dance floor and my surprise must have registered on my face because Nathan turned his head to see what I was gawking at. He didn't seem to think she was worth the jaw dropping stare frozen on my face.

I barely recognized the girl, who didn't look quite so cute and sweet anymore. She wore a slinky red dress that showed more than it hid, and two men on her arms that looked happy to stare at everything covered or not. Their attention was so caught up in her that they seemed not to care that they had a rival for her attention. She largely ignored both of them, and just danced between the two. And the girl could dance.

"I can see more questions forming in that head of yours," Nathan said into my ear. "We're here to have fun tonight, not play twenty questions."

I grunted, because wasn't that a game? Games were supposed to be fun.

He just pulled me closer and turned me around so Aris was out of my line of sight. Instead, I saw someone else across the room that caught my attention, and Aris was all but forgotten. Nicky stood toward the entrance of the club, where he was handing a manilla envelope over to someone. He glanced over and our eyes met, just for an instant, and then he was leaving.

I pulled myself out of Nathan's arms, excused myself when he said something that I didn't pay enough attention to to catch and crossed the room as quickly as my heels would allow me. I had to remind myself that I was supposed to be mad at Nicky for leaving me to Bhavna, but I couldn't feel it. I was excited to see him, and the little tingle I felt in my belly made me smile despite myself.

The bouncer stamped my hand on my way out and once outside, I had to run awkwardly down the sidewalk to catch Nicky. He was already on his bike, helmet in hand.

"Nicky," I called, stumbling just enough to look drunk, and then cursed. I was a jeans and sneakers kind of girl for a reason.

He looked up and waited, making me have to run the rest of the way down the sidewalk until I reached him. He laughed at me when I stopped in front of the motorcycle.

"Hush, I'm not used to running around on stilts." I scolded him.

"It's a good look on you," he smiled appreciatively, giving me a good once over which made my cheeks warm and it wasn't the only place on my body that did so. "I think I prefer you in jeans, but you're definitely looking hot tonight."

"I let someone dress me," I smiled back, almost feeling shy. "They kind of vampified me."

He nodded. "But you are a vampire."

"Yeah, but I don't have to look like one." I shrugged. "So what are you up to? They have you working tonight?"

"I'm done. You looking to get out of here?" He asked, and I thought I could see some hope in his eyes, and I so very badly wanted to say yes and jump onto the back of his bike, even if it meant jumping on the back of his bike. I was still terrified by the idea of actually riding on the thing.

"I don't think I can. Not tonight. But..." I bit my lip and gave an embarrassed giggle, because all I could think about was kissing him on my couch.

He put his helmet down and got off the bike, then gestured toward the alley behind me. At the roll of my eyes, he raised his shoulders. "They're good for privacy." He said, and I couldn't really argue with that.

We stepped a few feet into the alley and his hand on my elbow made my entire arm warm and happy. I felt like a dumb teenager developing a crush on an upperclassman.

"I told you you'd be okay," he said.

"Yeah," I leaned against the wall and brushed my fingers across the back of his hand. "It was a weird night. Not all of it was bad though."

He put his hands in his pockets, which frustrated me because I would have kind of liked them somewhere else.

"I wouldn't mind reliving a few moments of it," I said and smiled.

"Oh?" His lips curved upwards.

I wanted him to make the first move, but he wasn't cooperating so I grasped the front of his jacket in my hands and pulled him towards me. He was more accommodating, letting me pull him close and he took a step forward, covering the ground between us. He pulled his hands from his pockets and put them on my hips as our lips met in a gentle, almost shy kiss. It was a shyness that lasted only a moment. Fire ignited in my belly and I pulled him closer until I was pressed between his body and the wall, cushioned by his arms, that wrapped around me. Then his tongue was in my mouth, and all ability to think left me.

His fingers were warm through the thin fabric of my dress and as his hands moved, he left pleasant trails of heat across my body. One hand dipped low and came to rest below the small of my back, pulling my hips forward. The other nested in my hair at the top of my neck, his thumb curving around my earlobe. When I could feel how hard he was against me, I moaned into his mouth, which only made him harder.

"I'm a nice girl, you know." I gasped around his mouth. "And you're making me want to do very, very dirty things with you."

"I wouldn't mind details," he said, then dipped his head to nuzzle my neck. It sent waves of pleasure through my body, and it was pure, delicious torture.

I whispered into his ear and his hands stilled, and he groaned so low it was almost a growl.

"That's disgusting." Someone said, and Nicky and I jumped apart from each other, looking for all like we were two teenagers caught in the act by a parent.

Madeline stood at the mouth of the alley, hands on her hips, an amused smile playing on her lips.

"Sorry," she said. "Nathan sent me to see where you'd run off to, but if I'd known what fun you were having, I'd have looked in the other direction."

I sighed, because it looked like our time was up. Again.

Stepping close to Nicky again, I looked up at him. "That girl you mentioned last night?"

"Yeah?" He asked.

"You should ask her out sometime."

He grinned. "I think I will."

Madeline watched our exchange, clearly unwilling to give us a moment for a private goodbye.

"You got saddled with Nate?" Nicky asked. "Fun."

I shrugged. My opinion of the guy might not have been very high so far, but I'd had little enough time to get a feel for him. I was going to try to forget his having gotten a feel for my throat.

"Well... goodnight ladies."

I watched him walk away, and the view wasn't at all bad.

"Oh, stop drooling." Madeline said. "Nicky, huh?"

I nodded, smiling, probably looking a little goofy. "I like him."

"Clearly." She said, and although she still smiled, she didn't sound like she entirely approved. I didn't entirely care. "Just be careful what you say to him."

"Oh damn," I said. "I should have asked him if he knew anything about Aris. He seems to know everything about everyone."

She raised her eyebrows at me. "Aris?"

"Yeah," I said. "She's a puzzle. I hate puzzles."

"You're a nosy one."

"I'm not nosy. I'm just curious." I frowned.

"Even worse," she said. "Curiosity can kill more than cats."

She pulled me back into the club, where we danced a while longer, had a few more drinks that were starting to taste less weird and I wasn't minding them so much. But my mind was elsewhere.


	18. Chapter 18

When we got home, the gate at the driveway was open. Nathan was driving, and made a comment, but didn't seem concerned that it hadn't been locked and guarded. When we pulled up to the house, there was a body lying in a pool of blood in the center of the porch. Nathan, Madeline, and I stared through the windows of the car. Aris, also in the car with us, dove across the backseat, squashing me, to look out my window.

"Daddy," she gasped and was out the door in an instant. I sat frozen as the disappeared into the house.

Madeline reacted first, pulling out a cell phone. I don't know who she called, and I didn't hear what she said. I just stared at the man on the porch. His throat was torn out, and there were bloody footprints everywhere. They were canine.

Two cars pulled up behind us and vampires poured out of them. Some paired off and went around the sides of the house. Nathan came around and pulled me out of the car. We moved toward the front door, nearly a dozen of us, not all vampires. Some of them held handguns in their hands. I looked down at the corpse as we stepped around him, and felt my stomach twist.

I didn't want to enter the house, but Nathan pulled me in behind him. We weren't the first through the doors. Everyone around us was pairing off. I realized suddenly that my heart was beating, and all I could hear was my blood rushing through my veins. As soon as I become aware of it, my heart stilled again, and the sounds around me bloomed. I flinched back, and the only thing that kept me from falling was Nathan's grip on my arm.

He grabbed my chin and made me look at him. "Go upstairs to my room. There are two pistols under the bed. Get them. They're already loaded."

I nodded dumbly. I didn't want to go off by myself, but another pair of people had gone up that way, so I wouldn't really be alone. Not entirely.

The house was silent around me, and I took the stairs slowly. When I reached the upstairs hall, I saw several open doors. More open than closed actually, but heard nothing. I didn't see anyone either, not even the pair I'd seen go up before me.

At the first pair of doors, both open, I peeked into each, cautiously. Nobody. Both rooms were a mess though. One office, papers everywhere, and a computer monitor lay on the floor, its screen destroyed. The other room, a bedroom, fared better. The curtains and bedding lay on the floor in a heap. The window was broken, and while fresh air blew in, it did nothing to diminish the strong odor of urine soaking the pile on the floor. I wrinkled my nose and moved on.

Only one door in the next set was open. Aris stood in one, and with Nathan's orders forgotten, I rushed into her room.

It was an arsenal more than a bedroom. There were weapons everywhere, things I didn't recognize, and boxes in stacks with labels of things I was pretty certain were dangerous materials in and of themselves. Wicked looking knives littered her bed, a stark contrast to the ultra feminine frilly bedspread covering it. On her desk were several bricks of what looked like a dark greyish green clay. One of them was still in its wrapper and was marked Composition-4. My eyes widened and I turned to Aris.

"Is that C-4?" I asked.

"Does it say C-4 on it?" She asked, pulling some wicked looking instrument from under her bed. It looked like a gauntlet, but with lots of blades on it, all pointing forward, so if you punched someone while wearing it...

"I think so," I said.

"Then yes, it's C-4. But don't touch, we're not allowed to blow the house up." She stood up, wearing the gauntlet, and holding a sword in the other hand. She handed it to me.

I gawked at it. "What the hell am I supposed to do with a sword? Give me one of the guns."

She stared at me like I'd said something stupid. "No, that's better. You can chop people up with that. You can only put holes in people with a gun. Unless the bullets explode."

She pushed me out of the room and pointed me back in the direction of the stairs.

"No people to kill up here, and daddy is downstairs. Let's go." She gave me a little shove to get me moving.

I hefted the sword up. It was actually pretty light, but it was also long and awkward to hold, especially since I'd never held one before.

"Don't touch the blade moron," she hissed at me. "It's been electroplated."

The blade gleamed silver. I was careful to keep my hand on the pommel.

We all but ran back down the stairs, and once at the bottom, the sounds of fighting could be heard coming from nearly every direction save from the one we'd come from. Aris went for the hallway between the stairs and I followed at her heels for fear of being left behind.

There was a body in the hallway, where it turned to the left. It was small, naked, and broken. There was no blood, but his limbs were bent at impossible angles and his head faced the wrong direction. Lifeless golden eyes stared up at me.

"Mitch," I whispered. Tears flooded my eyes. "He was just a baby."

Aris spared the boy not a glance. She just looked at me with this puzzled expression. "He was an enemy. So I broke him."

I whimpered. "He was just a baby," I said again.

She shrugged, unsympathetic, then smiled. "Not everyone gets to live forever."

When I didn't move, she pulled me away from the body and we came to the double doors to the ballroom where Erik Geier had given me a new family. Aris lifted her ungauntleted hand to them, but stopped several inches short of touching them.

"I can't touch the doors." She said.

I sat down, laying the sword on the ground, and removed my shoes. Aris watched me, waiting.

"Move over," I said, standing back up, sword back in hand, my feet bare. I backed up and took a running leap at the doors, feet first, and flew into the doors. Then crashed into a heap on the floor. The doors opened.

Aris hissed beside me and I looked up to see what was happening. Someone had put a chair up on the stage across the room, where it sat like a throne. There was a woman lounging in it with wild blonde hair. A man, skeletal, stood before her and to her left. At his feet was a wolf, torn and bloody. Dead.

I stepped into the room, my body numb. The doors closed behind me and I heard Aris scream in anger. I whirled around to see a man standing before the doors. He stared back at me with golden eyes. I didn't recognize him, but I knew he was wolf.

"My daughter," Tobias said. "I'm so pleased to see you again. Come, I have a gift for you."

I turned back to him and stared. Then I remembered what Erik had said. He's broken my bond with this man. But maybe he didn't know that. I moved forward, towards the man. I held the sword in a death grip, but I tried to look nonthreatening as I made my way across the room. I stopped some six feet before reaching them. The wolf looked at me with yellow eyes. Not dead, it seemed. Not yet anyway.

"This," Tobias spread his hands out, gesturing to the wolf at his feet. "Is the man who gave you to me. I was going to kill him myself, but when I saw you had arrived, I thought I might save that pleasure for you. A peace offering if you will."

"Who?" I asked, looking at the wolf, who blinked back at me, yellow eyes full of agony as his blood pooled beneath him. His eyes were wrong.

"I believe his name is Gabe," Tobias said. The woman, Constance, laughed from her seat behind him.

"Gabe," I took a step forward. "Gabe did this?"

"Yes, my dear. I was going to let you drain him, but you seem to hold the means to do him a swift death."

"Off with his head," Constance barked, then whispered, "There can be only one."

"What do you say," Tobias asked me, ignoring his companion.

"Thank you," I forced myself to say, and hoped he believed me. "Sire."

He smiled, and it wasn't only his fangs that were sharp. All of his teeth were sharp.

I sucked in a breath and walked forward, until I stood over the wolf, a mere two feet away from Tobias. I pulled the sword back and the wolf met my eyes. I kept my eyes on his as I brought the sword forward again, arching it across instead of down. I heard Constance scream before Tobias joined her. The sword sliced across his belly, biting deep, but not deep enough to kill. But then, I didn't know what added damage the silver would do. He roared at me.

There was an explosion behind us, and fragments of wood were flying everywhere. I fell to the ground, the sword clattering to the floor behind me. I huddled there, beside the wolf. Tobias stared forward in horror, hands holding his belly protectively.

Aris stalked across the room, arms stretched out to her sides, palms facing down, fingers slightly curled. Her eyes were blazing a brilliant silver, and when she brought her hands forward, the room filled with fire. The blue flames licked over my head and I threw myself over the wolf. The heat was intense and blinding in its brightness. I heard screaming.

"Erik," I gasped as the heat baked my skin. It was painful, but I didn't think it was causing me any damage. I hoped.

I put my arms around the wolf and half carried him, half dragged him away, towards the doors leading to the garden. Tobias and Constance beat us there, and with a crash that reverberated through the room, the glass doors shattered and the two vampires disappeared through them, scorched from Aris's fire, but alive.

The wolf moved beneath me, and I stared in fascination as his body reformed itself, until Erik lie there. It was nothing like when I'd seen Ben turn into a wolf. This was a fluid change. Easy. But his body was a mass of bruised, bleeding flesh. With a growl, he took my arm and sank his fangs into my wrist. I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut against the pain. I didn't open them again until he released my arm.

Aris was crouched beside us, and Erik's wounds were beginning to close.

I looked at the mess around us. The fire had done some damage, but nothing was actually on fire. More than just the doors had been blown up though. A good portion of the walls around where they had stood were also gone. The werewolf who had been guarding them was very much dead.

Erik seemed to be surveying the damage as well. "You used explosives in my house."

"Sorry," Aris said sheepishly.

"Good girl," he said. "But don't do it again."

"I didn't know vampires could turn into wolves." I blurted.

"She's not very bright," Aris whispered loudly.

"Not all of us can," he said to me. "Let's move."

We went through the broken glass doorway and into the garden, which I hadn't seen before. There was another body, this one beside the fountain, throat torn out like the guard in front of the house. Bloody footprints surrounded it as well, some leaving trails through the garden toward a gate leading to the backyard. They weren't all canine.

"Andrew," Erik said, rolling the body over with his bare foot. "Guard."

Aris nodded, and I remembered that she was in charge of them. She showed no more emotion for the death of her employee, and possibly friend, than she had for the child she'd murdered.

"Come," he said and headed for the gate. Aris pushed her way in front of him, and he didn't argue with her. Better to let his soldier take the brunt of an attack, I guessed.

I could have groaned when I saw the yard. I hadn't been given a tour yet, so I was very wrong for having pictured a fairly small expanse of easily guarded, manicured lawn. It was neither small nor easily guarded. There was a small area of lawn, sure, but it was surrounded by a tall hedge with pathways leading in several directions. Trees grew everywhere, and you couldn't see far in any direction without them obscuring the view.

We followed the first path we came to, but everything was silent with no hint of the fighting I'd heard before. I fervently hoped it was all over, and that we'd missed the worst of it.

The path opened into rectangular area, a small pool at its center. I peered into its depths, expecting to find another body at the bottom. There was nothing but a little vacuum thing, sucking up debris from the bottom of the pool. There were, however, several lounge chairs that looked like they'd been knocked out of the way and they now lay near the pool, ready to fall in at the slightest nudge. Someone had been fighting there.

We skirted the pool and kept going. Aris and Erik followed the path around an equipment shed, but something made me pause and look over my shoulder. Something gray and bushy, like a tail disappeared behind the bushes lining the path I'd just left. I took a step in that direction to follow before I came to my senses. I whirled around to call for Aris and Erik, but instead found myself colliding with a solid wall of muscle. I looked up, instantly pushed toward panic, which didn't lessen when I saw the familiar face peering down at me. I opened my mouth to scream when his fist shot out and met my face. For my credit, I didn't pass out or collapse, but my vision did darken, rendering me useless long enough for Gabe to punch me again, this time in the stomach. And then I did double over and fall to my knees. I might not have needed the breath that would have been knocked out of me, but it still hurt.

I retched a thin trail of blood and Gabe moved behind me to shove me forward. I caught myself, but with a kick to my left knee, I found myself on my belly anyway. He brought his knee down on the middle of my back and yanked my arms behind me by the elbows. A sob escaped my throat. I was a girl. I wasn't supposed to get beat up.

"Are you going to molest me again, or just kick me around this time?" I spat, though it kind of hurt to talk.

"Actually," he tugged my arms upwards against my back, and even though I clenched my teeth against the pain I knew was to come, I cried out anyway. "I was thinking I might drag you back to that house and fuck you before I gut you and rip out your throat."

A ball of ice formed in my stomach, but I laughed anyway. "Is that all? That's the best you can come up with?"

"I could tear you apart while I'm inside you, but then you won't be as much fun to look at."

"You're a sick fuck, Gabe." I tried to roll my body to the side, but he responded with another tug on my arms. "Did you give me to them? This is all your doing, isn't it?"

"Yes on both counts," he chuckled darkly. "Teaming up with vamps makes me sick, but I got the fight I wanted. I'd rather have waited till the new moon next week, but when Benji told me it looked like the house would be empty tonight, we couldn't wait. And even without that advantage, I think we've taken out most of your new friends. With no Master vampire around, things are going to get fun."

"Mitch is dead," I blurted out, because I didn't know what else to say, and I figured if we kept talking, then at least I was still alive.

"I know," he growled.

"I'm sorry," I sobbed again, and the tears started flowing again. I wasn't sorry for Gabe. I'd never be sorry for anything hurting him, but I was heartsick for an innocent kid who'd had a real psycho for a role model and gotten himself killed by another psycho.

"Enough with the chitchat. Time for some fun,"

There was a growl. I tried to twist my head to look, but I couldn't see anything past Gabe.

"Stand down," Gabe said, looking behind him.

Another growl.

"Stand down! She's not worth it man. She's just another leech."

A snarl this time, followed by the clicking sound of claws on the flagstone path. Gabe cursed and then he was off my back. I rolled over and scooted away from him.

"Ben?" The silvery gray wolf's ears twitched at the sound of my voice, but he kept his eyes on Gabe. He held his head low and his lips were pulled back over his teeth.

Gabe stalked toward Ben, shoulders tight, fists clenched. Ben held his ground at first, but then took a step back when Gabe towered over him. His foot made contact with Ben's throat and I screamed. I tried to run forward, to jump on Gabe's back, to distract him, to do something, but someone grabbed me and held me back. I struggled, crying, but my arms were held in an iron grip.

Ben was on his side, his breath coming out in wheezing gasps. His feet peddled against the ground, trying to gain purchase. With a pained whine, he pulled himself to his feet, but he staggered and coughed.

Gabe was on the ground. His skin twitched violently and had already begun sprouting fur. It happened so much faster than it had for Ben when I'd seen his change just a few nights before. He shook himself and was on his feet in a matter of seconds, an impressively large red wolf.

Ben was on him before he could fully recover. And then... it was near impossible to tell who was doing what to whom. They were a mass of fur, snarling, snapping, tearing, and yipping. Blood was drawn, filling the heavy air with its scent, but there was no telling who it belonged to. They fought on, struggling for access to one another's most vulnerable spots.

They tumbled apart, and Gabe snapped his jaws at the base of Ben's tail. He managed to drag him several inches before Ben twisted his body around and latched on to one of Gabe's forelegs. He shook his head and Gabe yowled, releasing his grip on Ben. Gabe held his broken leg up, but it didn't keep him from lunging at the side of Ben's head. His teeth sunk into the Ben's ruff and they were rolling on the ground, Ben's legs kicking at Gabe's belly. Gabe released his hold on Ben to try for his throat. His teeth flashed, snapping as they continued to roll, neither seeming to have the upper hand.

I struggled again and screamed at my captor to let me go, but the arms holding me wouldn't budge. I threw my head back, hoping to bash in a nose, a chin, whatever, but my head met nothing but open air. The arms shook me.

"Stop that! If I can't play with them, then neither can you."

I twisted my head around, snarling. Aris held me. Aris, who was so much smaller than me, held me in an unbreakable grip. Erik stood beside her, watching the fight, stoic.

When I turned my head back around, it was already over. I went limp, but Aris held me up.

Ben stood over Gabe, panting heavily. I didn't know if Gabe was dead, but if he still lived, it wasn't for long. His throat hadn't been torn out like I'd seen with the two guards, but it was shredded and blood was spreading out around him in a growing pool. His eyes were closed. Ben stepped away as the blood neared his feet. He took several steps toward us, then sat and whined. It was a pitiful, soulful sound. He tipped his head back, and I waited, frozen, for his howl. I could already hear it filling the night. But he only lowered his head again and sunk to the ground.

"Release her," Erik commanded, and the arms around me went slack.

I fell to my knees from the sudden lack of support, but was on my feet again in an instant, and then I had Ben in my arms, too shocked to be embarrassed by the sobs wracking my body. His breath blew across my arm in short puffs. He was trembling in my arms, and it took me a moment to realize he was shifting back to his own body. It looked so much more painful than Erik's change.

Erik and Aris left without a word, giving us some privacy, for which I was grateful, because at that moment I thought Ben was dying. But then he was in my arms, human, and he looked whole and unbroken, if bloody. His shoulder was torn, but the flesh was already knitting together. I ran my hands over his body, inspecting every square inch of him, but I could find no other damage.

"Stop," he said, still fighting to catch his breath. He took my hands and held them still. "I'm okay."

I waited, kneeling beside him until his breathing slowed and his heartbeat no longer raced. He sat up and looked at me.

"Did he hurt you?" He touched my face, but it no longer hurt. "He did."

"I'm fine," I said, and it sounded cold to my ears. I lowered my head and pressed my forehead to his shoulder and let the tears flow again.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Neither of us moved. We didn't know what to say to each other.

He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me. I felt... nothing.

"I have to go," I said, my voice flat, dead.

"You don't," he said. "You don't have to leave me."

He was right. But I did it anyway.

- x x x -

- Sunday -

We only lost one of our number that night. I didn't know him. Every last guard that Aris had on duty was killed, save for one. He died the next day by Aris's hand when she learned he'd survived by hiding in a closet instead of defending the house. The number of guards was far more numerous than I'd have ever guessed. The werewolves had been greatly outnumbered. Mitch and Gabe weren't the only losses the werewolves suffered. They also lost Mateo, which in my opinion, was a great loss. I cried for him, but in the end, I really only felt numb. As for the corpse in the ballroom, nobody knew who he was. Tobias and Constance had gotten away, and without them and Gabe to rile the wolves, nobody felt like fighting. Not each other anyway. Tobias and Constance weren't going to find themselves welcome in either circle. Everyone wanted them dead.

They say time heals all, and while I don't believe the saying meant overnight, a mere three nights later everything seemed to be business as usual. On the surface at least. The house was back in order, it's inhabitants back to their usual routines. Mine hadn't been established yet, so I was out of sorts anyway. I was terrified of Aris, something everyone else in the house found hilarious. She seemed indifferent, neither going out of her way to avoid me, nor making any special attempt to put herself in my way. I just knew, without a doubt, that I never wanted her angry at me. I stocked up on Red Vines the first chance I got.

I lay stretched out on my bed, avoiding Nathan, who was intent on teaching me how to fight. That involved working with Aris, but even if it hadn't, I wasn't in the mood for physical violence of any kind. It was important, Nathan had drilled that into my head every chance he'd gotten the last few nights, and I agreed. He was right, but I still wanted a break before I learned how to hurt people more efficiently.

My cell phone rang, and I picked it up without looking at the display. Ben had called me a dozen times. I'd taken every call, and every time I'd told him I didn't want to see him. I still loved him. I didn't know if I was still in love, but it didn't matter anymore. I didn't want to be in love with him. He claimed he wanted to give me time, but the frequency of his phone calls told another story. He said he wanted me. But I couldn't bring myself to feel anything but the same numbness I'd felt since his pack had attacked the people who'd taken me in. I didn't think time was going to change anything. Not between us.

"Hello," I said, knowing how resigned I sounded.

"Did I wake you up?"

"Nicky?" I sat up, instantly perked up, my voice full of the smile that bloomed across my face.

"I thought I'd call and ask you out on that date."

I grinned, "Right now?"

"Right now, dead girl. And it's a jeans kind of date." He chuckled, which led me to make a snarky comment about him wanting to look at my ass. His response left my face feeling hot in a very pleasant sort of way.

An hour later I sat behind him on his bike, flying through the night, our bodies pressed against each other with my arms wound tightly around him. I didn't feel quite so numb anymore.

- End -


End file.
